Canal+, beIN SPORT prepare for Ligue 1 kick-off

Friday 9 August will see the commencement of the next Ligue 1 French Championship, with Olympique Lyonnais playing host to Nice, and newly promoted Monaco travelling to Bordeaux. In addition to the on-pitch activities, it will be interesting to follow the ‘match’ played by the two different championshop broadcasters.

Last year, the National Football League auctioned the television rights for the following four seasons (2012 to 2016). Canal+ secured the first four rights packages in exchange for an annual fee of 420 million euros, whilst beIN SPORT secured package number five for 90 million euros per year.

In short, Canal+ broadcasts two out of the three top matches live each day whereas beIN SPORT broadcasts one out of the three most important matches. Both pay TV channels also produce their own programmes devoted entirely to the whole championship.

As far as the technical production is concerned, Canal+ has signed an exclusivity agreement with Euro Media France for the coverage of its Ligue 1 matches. The deal will run for an additional three years.

As for beIN SPORT they call on AMP VISUAL TV for the matches taking place in 13 of the 20 stadiums that are likely to be covered. For the remaining seven, the Qatari channel uses the services of Imagina Group France, a subsidiary of the Spanish group Mediapro, which is already a regular service provider for the Al-Jazeera group channels. As a matter of fact Mediapro set up the beIN SPORT studios in Boulogne-Billancourt, close to Paris.

Incidentally, AMP VISUAL TV is in charge of the production for the Ligue 2 coverage that is jointly broadcast by beIN SPORT and Eurosport.