France/TV rights: "Canal+ is back and in control of the game" (P. Bailly, NPA Conseil)

"Canal+ is really back in football, and quite strongly. In the use of the rights themselves, Canal+ will undoubtedly sublicense part of the lots or certain lots, but symbolically, they have gained all the rights. They therefore have control of the game: to use all the rights or to sublicense part of them," said Philippe Bailly, president of the specialist consultancy NPA Conseil, to News Tank Football, on 01/07/2022.

Canal+ acquired all broadcasting rights in France for the men's European Cups (Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League) for the 2024-2027 cycle from UEFA via the Swiss agency TEAM Marketing, on 29/06/2022. These rights were acquired for a sum of €480m per season, according to the French sports daily L'Équipe. The free-to-air rights to the Champions League final, over the same period, were acquired by the free-TV group M6, for €4m per season.

"M6 has been present in European Cups for years, even if not in the Champions League. In a way, they are more present than TF1, because TF1 currently only has the Champions League final, whereas M6 has one game per…