French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus will continue to show La Ligue Nationale de Basket, the French basketball league, for the next five years, after a new rights deal was agreed.
The new agreement included a renegotiation of the final year of the two parties’ current four-year deal, from 2009-10 to 2012-13, and a four-year rights extension from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
According to Le Figaro, the league will receive a total of €29 million ($39 million) over the five years, or €5.8 million per year, up from the €4 million per year Canal Plus currently pays for the rights, which cover the Pro A and Pro B leagues, the top two divisions.
Canal Plus will continue to broadcast two Pro A games live per week.
In March, league president Alain Béral said that he planned to activate a termination clause in the current deal at the end of this season. However, in announcing the new deal, Béral said he was satisfied that Canal Plus had listened to his concerns about a lack of visibility and would give the league more exposure by showing a new weekly magazine programme and allowing 12 games per season to be carried on a free-to-air platform.
“Basketball will continue to be very visible on Sport Plus and Canal Plus’s other channels, but also on a free-to-air channel for several games each year, which has not happened for a long time,” Béral said. It is not clear whether Canal Plus will open up its coverage to non-subscribers or sublicense the rights to a free-to-air broadcaster.