French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has been awarded rights by the Ligue National de Rugby (LNR) for the domestic rugby union Top 14 tournament for four seasons, from 2015-16 to 2018-19.
The LNR said that the exclusive deal with Canal Plus is worth €74m ($92m) per season, reportedly up from an average of €71m per year in the current agreement.
Canal Plus’s original five-year deal, from 2014-15 to 2018-19, was cut short by the Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, which ordered a new tender process to run from the start of next season.
Under the new deal, Canal Plus has acquired rights for all regular-season matches as well as the Top 14 semi-finals and magazine programmes.
The broadcaster will show at least three matches on every match day across its Canal Plus and Canal Plus Sport channels, with the two best matches being offered on Canal Plus. Other games will be shown on the Rugby Plus channel, while on the final day of the season, Canal Plus will offer a multiplex broadcast of all of the games.
Canal Plus will broadcast two weekly magazine programmes, including a new show at 6.30pm on Sundays on its main channel.
French newspaper l’Equipe said that Canal Plus was one of six bidders for the rights by the deadline on Monday, along with pay-television rival beIN Media Group, public-service broadcaster France Télévisions, the French division of pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport, digital-terrestrial television channel L’Equipe 21 and basic-tier sports broadcaster Ma Chaîne Sport.
Cyril Linette, the director of sports at Canal Plus, described the whole process as a “saga,” but added: “A key battle has been won.”
The LNR said that it is still considering bids for rights to the final of the Top 14 and the second-tier Pro D2.
The body said that “several offers” had been lodged for free-to-air and pay-television coverage” of the final over four seasons, from 2015-16 to 2018-19.
The LNR added that it had received five offers for the rights to the second division over five years, from 2015-16 to 2019-20, and would initiate talks with the different bidders.