According to Cyril Linette, the TV rights drama for Ligue 1 promises to be complicated for the LFP. Even if a boost could come from Qatar.
Will Ligue 1 get through this? Former director of the Canal+ sports department, Cyril Linette drew up a rather pessimistic observation in the series of TV rights for the French championship, while the LFP is looking for a new broadcaster for the 2024-2025 period. According to Linette, the L1 has lost its attractiveness in recent years.
“We know the champion before the start of the season, regretted the former journalist on RMC. In sport, what counts are emotions and suspense. There are not any. There is no excitement around the awarding of the title of champion of France. The product is not as good as it was 10-15 years ago. »
According to Cyrille Linette, there are two other problems. The first is that Ligue 1 has lost spectators by being broadcast on platforms with fewer subscribers. “In my time, the matches had 2.5/3 million viewers. Today, audiences are fragmented. The League has turned its back on its main broadcaster (Canal+), the one with the largest audience base.he notes.
“Everyone loses money”
The second concern is that the market is in crisis. “Today, the operators share the rights. Amazon is losing money. Prime Video is losing money, Disney is losing money… Worldwide, everyone is losing money and trying to lose as little as possible by aggregating offers and distributing among themselves rather than putting fortunes. So I don’t see why Ligue 1 would be an exception to this global phenomenon”fears Cyril Linette.
However, the former manager of Canal+ imagines a miracle solution to replenish the clubs’ coffers. “With the relationship with Qatar, when we talk about rights abroad, we can perhaps imagine that QSI overpays for international rights to be able to find a common solution”he confided.
