Charles Bietry, the director of Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera’s new sports pay-television operation in France, defended his company after Bertrand Meheut, the chief executive of pay-television rival Canal Plus, described it as “economically irrational.”
Meheut’s criticism came in the wake of Al Jazeera last week reportedly paying €60m ($80m) to acquire live rights for 133 Champions League matches per year from the 2012-13 to 2014-15 seasons – around double the €31m per year paid by Canal Plus in the existing deal.
Meheut said on Tuesday that “the emergence of an economically irrational actor is quite bad news.” However, Bietry, who said earlier this week that the broadcaster was not “at war” with Canal Plus, responded to Meheut’s comments in an interview in l’Equipe.
“It is immensely stupid to say that I have access to unlimited funds. I have a budget to the nearest euro,” he said.
Bietry quit Canal Plus to join Al Jazeera in June. In June Al Jazeera also secured domestic rights for French Ligue 1 football from 2012-16.