Ligue 1: the LFP could request up to €9m per season in financial compensation from Canal+ (L’Équipe)

The LFP could request up to €9m per season from the French TV group Canal+ in financial compensation if, at the end of the season, the TV audience of Ligue 1 games on Saturday afternoons (broadcast on Canal+ Sport) are lower compared to the average of the last four years (also broadcast on Canal+), according to the French sports daily L’Équipe on 29/09/2016.

Canal+ has broadcast, since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, two of the three Ligue 1 Saturday afternoon games on the specialised channel Canal+ Sport and not on its premium channel Canal+, as provided for in the LFP tender for the 2016-2020 Ligue 1 audiovisual rights. The pay-TV channel has acquired the three best games of each matchday of Ligue 1 (one on Friday evenings at 20:45, one on Saturday afternoons at 17:00, and the game of the week on Sundays at 20:45), on 04/04/2014.

The LFP has addressed a letter to Canal+ to express its displeasure after each matchday, particularly for a decrease of 300,000 viewers on average for the game in the Saturday 17:00 time slot on Canal+ Sport, as compared to previous seasons, reported…