French pay-television operator Ma Chaîne Sport has failed in a bid to stop the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the French football league, from launching a tender for the media rights for Ligue 2, the country’s second-tier football league.
The operator was unsuccessful in a case at the Tribunal de Grande Instance, the tribunal of first instance in Paris, to block the tender, which will cover the live rights for all 10 Ligue 2 fixtures per week in the four seasons from 2012-13 to 2015-16.
There remains a second legal action by MCS against the league in the Tribunal de Commerce business court regarding the tender in 2010 for the cycle of rights that began in 2011-12. L’Equipe reports that the broadcaster is seeking €27 million ($36 million) in compensation for damages suffered after the league rejected its offer in the tender of €5 million per year for nine Ligue 2 games per week.
The league opted to launch its own digital-terrestrial pay-television channel, CFoot, to show the matches instead of accepting MCS’s offer. CFoot is set to close at the end of the 2011-12 football season after failing to attract enough subscribers.
The Tribunal de Commerce is expected to rule on the case by the middle of this year.