Ligue 1 TV rights (2020-2024): French Competition Authority rejects Canal+ & beIN's complaints

In the context of the partial reallocation of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats broadcasting rights to Amazon (85% of the matches, including 80% on an exclusive basis for €250m per year over the 2021-2024 cycle), the Autorité de la concurrence (French Competition Authority) has rejected the complaints made by the Canal+ Group and beIN Sports France "for lack of sufficient evidence," announced the body on 30/11/2022.

This reallocation of rights previously held by the Spanish group Mediapro (for more than €800m per year) to Amazon "led the Canal+ Group (GCP) and beIN Sports France to lodge a complaint with the Autorité de la concurrence. The complainants maintained that by granting the rights in question to Amazon for the 2021-2022 to 2023-2024 seasons for €250m per season, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) had committed discrimination insofar as, at the same time, they themselves remained obliged to broadcast batch (lot) 3 matches, acquired in 2018 for €332m per season," explained the Authority.

"In this instance, the Autorité de la concurrence found that the information provided by GCP…