Date set for LNR and Canal Plus appeals in Top 14 dispute

The Court of Appeal in Paris will hear the appeals of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby and pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus over the decision to suspend their rights deal for the Top 14 rugby union league on September 4.

The LNR and Canal Plus last month confirmed they would appeal against an order by the Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, to suspend the rights deal and hold a new tender process for the Top 14.

The authority said that the league must hold a new tender process at the end of the upcoming season, just one year into Canal Plus’s five-year deal for the Top 14, from 2014-15 to 2018-19.

In January, Canal Plus was awarded the rights just days after the league said that it had postponed a rights tender after becoming the subject of legal action by the same broadcaster.

In March, pay-television rival beIN Sports submitted a formal complaint to the regulator, having claimed that January’s agreement had not followed “a transparent procedure to ensure fair competition.”

French newspaper L’Equipe said the hearing on September 4 is likely to result in a publicly announced verdict between September 15-20.