Ligue 1 TV rights dispute: Canal+ loses its appeal against beIN Sports and retains Lot 3

The Versailles Court of Appeal has upheld the Court of Nanterre's decision of 05/08/2021 in ruling that Canal+ cannot terminate its sublicensing agreement with beIN Sports for Lot 3 of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats broadcasting rights, over the 2020-2024 cycle, on 31/03/2022.

Canal+ had sublicensed the lot from beIN Sports, as part of an exclusive distribution agreement, for €332m per season on 09/12/2019. Canal+ had written to beIN Sports France to inform it of its intention to withdraw from its sublicensing agreement, considering that the latter had not fulfilled its obligations to challenge the contract, which was considered prohibitive, following Amazon's acquisition, in June 2021, of the rights to Ligue 1 initially held by Mediapro for more than three times less than the amount staked by the Spanish group (€250m vs €780m).

Other disputes are underway between Canal+, beIN Sports and the LFP, concerning Lot 3 of the broadcasting rights to the Ligue 1 Uber Eats. Maxime Saada, chairman of the board of Canal+ Group, had announced that he wanted to see the litigation through to the end on…