2026 World Cup: "France Télévisions has already asked us for matches" (N. de Tavernost, M6)

"France Télévisions (public broadcasting group) has already asked us for matches. I'm more in favour of keeping them. I told them we'd think about it because I'm always polite to people who write politely. Laurent-Eric Le Lay (France Télévisions' director of sports) is a serious and reasonable person, with whom we get on very well. We'll analyse the situation when the time comes. And my successor will decide," said Nicolas de Tavernost, president of the management board at the French private free-TV group M6, during a meeting with the French Association of Media Journalists on 05/04/2024.

The M6 group acquired the exclusive free-to-air broadcasting rights in France to 54 matches from the 2026 World Cup and the same number from the 2030 World Cup on 07/03/2024. According to the daily Le Figaro on 08/03/2024, it acquired these rights for a sum close to €240m.

"When Rodolphe Belmer (president and CEO of the private free-TV group TF1) arrived, I suggested that we share (the rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups). He thought about it and finally said: 'I'd like that, but with benefits…