France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby has confirmed it will appeal against an order by the Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, to suspend a rights deal with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus and hold a new tender process for the rights to the Top 14 rugby union league.
The authority said yesterday (Wednesday) 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.
Canal Plus has already said that it will go to the Court of Appeal in Paris to challenge the decision by the regulator.
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.”
The league said today: “The league has taken note of the Competition Authority ruling on the request for provisional measures from beIN Sports. The Competition Authority rejected beIN Sports’ request for a new tender for the 2014-15 season, but ordered, as a precaution, the rights to be put back on the market from the 2015-16 season. The league takes note of this decision and has decided to challenge it by appealing to the Court of Appeal in Paris.”
Canal Plus has said that its coverage of the Top 14 during the 2014-15 season, which begins on August 15, will not be affected.