Canal+ launches new digital channel for Ligue 1 following Mediapro deal collapse

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder, Leandro Paredes, up against OSG Nice last weekend

Canal+ has launched a new digital channel for the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football matches previously set to be covered by Mediapro.

After agreeing a one season deal with France’s Professional Football League (LFP) to take over coverage of the current season of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches following the collapse of the LFP’s deal with Mediapro, Canal+ has debuted its new digital channel for the French football league.

At the beginning of February Canal+ struck a deal with the LFP for a reported E35 million on top of its existing E330 million contract for 20% of Ligue 1 games.

The channel, named Canal+ Ligue 1, is now part of the myCanal platform where it has been dubbed by the broadcaster as a ‘superhub’ for all content, which includes live and on-demand games plus extra content for fans. The live matches also include statistics and player and team rankings.

The new channel kicked into service last weekend leading with the Paris Saint Germain versus OSG Nice match (won by PSG 2-1).

In June last year Mediapro announced it would launch a new French Téléfoot service in partnership with French TV channel, TF1. It was set to show the eight live Ligue 1 fixtures and eight live Ligue 2 fixtures per match week that it purchased in its rights deals with the LFP.

The move followed Mediapro’s €780 million per-season purchase of eight Ligue 1 TV rights packages that covered the seasons 2020-21 to 2023-24.

Rights to Ligue 2 were also secured over the same period, along with UEFA Europa League and Europa Conference League rights from 2021-22 to 2023-24.