French public-service broadcaster France Télévisions’ sports budget will be cut by between €10m ($11.9m) and €15m in 2018, according to the AFP news agency.
The broadcaster yesterday (Thursday) confirmed a total budget of €2.8bn for 2018, with spending on sport, magazine programmes and game shows set to be reduced by a total of €50m.
The overall budget “preserves the strategic priorities of France Télévisions that are information, creation and digital”, the broadcaster said.
One executive told AFP that it will be “difficult” to retain all of the sports-rights in the broadcaster’s portfolio.
The company is reportedly considering sharing rights to certain properties, with French daily newspaper L’Équipe claiming that rights to skiing, the MotoGP motorcycling championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor-racing event and the Coupe de la Ligue domestic football competition could be sublicensed on to other media companies.
France Télévisions is also looking at ways to reduce production costs, the report said.
However, L’Équipe said that France Télévisions is still planning to bid for coverage of the 2024 summer Olympic Games in Paris, despite reports earlier this month that it is considering foregoing the rights due to the cut in the sports budget, which was reportedly €230m this year.