Pay-television broadcaster BeIN Sports has secured the lion’s share of exclusive rights in France to the Uefa Champions League between 2021 and 2024.
The Qatar-based company has won the biggest lot of the auction, comprising of exclusive rights to 104 of the 138 live fixtures from European club soccer’s premier competition for the three-season cycle, along with highlights to every game.
The other package for the remaining 34 live games has been picked up by Canal+, another pay-TV broadcaster.
The financial terms of the arrangement have not been made public, but BeIN, which previously showed the Champions League in France between 2012 and 2018, said it had secured the rights at a ‘financially disciplined and considered price’.
According to Bloomberg, BeIN and Canal+ will pay €375 million (US$412 million) a year to show the tournament, bringing in a total €1.125 billion (US$1.237 billion) for European soccer’s governing body Uefa over the three-year deal.
If the reported figures are correct, the deal marks a significant uplift on the annual €315 million (US$346 million) that L’Equipe says Uefa receives from its current deal with Altice-owned RMC Sport.
Yousef Al-Obaidly, president of BeIN Sports France, said: “This is also an important statement to the crowded broadcast market – BeIN offers the most comprehensive and complete catalogue of sports content to consumers in France, and by some margin.
“But from a business point of view, we are determined to make economically sensible and proportionate bids in the interests of our long-term financial security and our subscribers.”
Al-Obaidly, who is also Bein Media Group’s chief executive, had warned in October that the ‘plague of piracy’ would see rights values plummet in the future, while the company has said in the past that it could cut back on its sports broadcast spending due to a lack of urgency from rights holders over the BeoutQ scandal, which has seen the Saudi Arabia-based pirate operation illegally show premium sports content for over two years.
However, the return of the Champions League sees BeIN further cement its position in France, which has become an increasingly competitive marketplace for sports rights. As well as the Champions League, BeIN’s soccer offering in the country over the next few years will also include the domestic Ligue 1, the Fifa World Cup, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga.
The deal comes after it was reported earlier in the week that the invitation to tender process in France, which is handled by Uefa's agency partner Team Marketing, had gone to a second round of bidding after the initial deadline passed. As well as RMC, another potential bidder was new-entrant Mediapro, which last year secured the majority of the domestic rights to Ligue 1 for the 2020 to 2024 cycle.
The announcement marks the second major rights deal to be struck by Uefa this month for its crown jewel club competition after UK pay-TV broadcaster BT Sport retained exclusive rights to the Champions League for UK£1.2 billion (US$1.5 billion).
Pay-television broadcaster BeIN Sports has secured the lion’s share of exclusive rights in France to the Uefa Champions League between 2021 and 2024.
The Qatar-based company has won the biggest lot of the auction, comprising of exclusive rights to 104 of the 138 live fixtures from European club soccer’s premier competition for the three-season cycle, along with highlights to every game.
The other package for the remaining 34 live games has been picked up by Canal+, another pay-TV broadcaster.
The financial terms of the arrangement have not been made public, but BeIN, which previously showed the Champions League in France between 2012 and 2018, said it had secured the rights at a ‘financially disciplined and considered price’.
According to Bloomberg, BeIN and Canal+ will pay €375 million (US$412 million) a year to show the tournament, bringing in a total €1.125 billion (US$1.237 billion) for European soccer’s governing body Uefa over the three-year deal.
If the reported figures are correct, the deal marks a significant uplift on the annual €315 million (US$346 million) that L’Equipe says Uefa receives from its current deal with Altice-owned RMC Sport.
Yousef Al-Obaidly, president of BeIN Sports France, said: “This is also an important statement to the crowded broadcast market – BeIN offers the most comprehensive and complete catalogue of sports content to consumers in France, and by some margin.
“But from a business point of view, we are determined to make economically sensible and proportionate bids in the interests of our long-term financial security and our subscribers.”
Al-Obaidly, who is also Bein Media Group’s chief executive, had warned in October that the ‘plague of piracy’ would see rights values plummet in the future, while the company has said in the past that it could cut back on its sports broadcast spending due to a lack of urgency from rights holders over the BeoutQ scandal, which has seen the Saudi Arabia-based pirate operation illegally show premium sports content for over two years.
However, the return of the Champions League sees BeIN further cement its position in France, which has become an increasingly competitive marketplace for sports rights. As well as the Champions League, BeIN’s soccer offering in France over the next few years will also include the domestic Ligue 1, the Fifa World Cup, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga.
The announcement marks the second major rights deal to be struck by Uefa this month for its crown jewel club competition after UK pay-TV broadcaster BT Sport retained exclusive rights to the Champions League for UK£1.2 billion (US$1.5 billion).
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