It’s enough to be worth mentioning: the Community Shield between Manchester City and Manchester United, Saturday afternoon at Wembley, was not broadcast in France. To the great displeasure of Pep Guardiola’s (or Erling Haaland’s) admirers and the many Red Devils supporters. The beIN Sports channel had been broadcasting the first match of the English season between the reigning champion and the winner of the FA Cup since 2012 (United beat City in the final, 2-1, on May 25, in this same temple of London football).
So it’s over. The beIN Sports France group simply no longer owns the TV rights to the FA Cup. The contract renewed in 2018 was thus concluded at the end of last season. This results in a blackout for the Community Shield since the TV rights have not yet been granted by the English federation to an audiovisual group for broadcasting in France.
Canal+ rather than beIN Sports?
“There is a desire from the Premier League to recover the marketing of the FA Cup rights, which perhaps complicates the negotiations with beIN given that the PL is on Canal+”can be read on X from Nico Messant. If the Premier League now manages the rights to the FA Cup at the expense of the FA, then the broadcasting of the competition could perhaps be taken over by Canal+, the historic broadcaster of the Premier League. But there is no rush. The entry into the competition of the 20 elite clubs is not scheduled until the weekend of January 11, for the 32nd finals.
As a reminder, beIN Sports has acquired one Ligue 1 match per day for 100 million euros from the LFP (including 20 million in sponsorship contracts). The Franco-Qatari channel will offer the Saturday 5pm match and will have first choice every other weekend, outside of the 10 matches of the season chosen by DAZN. The British group, a newcomer to France, has purchased eight of the nine championship matches for 400 million euros per year, with an exit clause after two years. DAZN’s subscription is set at 29.99 euros per month with a one-year commitment…
