beIN Sports France: rights to European Rugby Cups extended, Betclic Élite rights "in progress"

beIN Sports France has announced the extension of its broadcasting rights for the European Rugby Cups on 30/08/2022. The pay-TV group will broadcast, during the 2022-2026 cycle, all of the French clubs' matches in the Heineken Champions Cup and two matches featuring French clubs per round in the Challenge Cup.

The public broadcaster France Télévisions is expected to continue to broadcast two matches per round in the Champions Cup and one in the Challenge Cup on a free-to-air basis, as has been the case since the 2020-21 season. The two groups were paying an estimated €30m per season (€24m for beIN Sports, €6m for France Télévisions) for the Champions Cup over the 2018-2020 cycle, before France Télévisions broadcast a second Champions Cup fixture in order to increase exposure for the competition and for beIN Sports to renegotiate its contract downwards (€20m per season), according to the French sports daily L'Équipe.

Florent Houzot, director of programmes at beIN Sports France, also indicated that the extension of the broadcasting rights to the Betclic Elite (beIN has been…