Saada guarantees Canal Plus will show Ligue 1 beyond 2020

Maxime Saada, chairman of the board of Canal Plus (pictured, right), has said the French pay-television broadcaster will continue to show Ligue 1 matches after 2020.

At the end of May, Canal Plus lost out in the bidding for top-tier domestic Ligue 1 rights from 2020-21 to 2023-24, with Spanish agency Mediapro and pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports winning out. Canal Plus has held Ligue 1 rights continuously since 1984.

In an interview with French radio station France Inter yesterday (September 3), Saada said: “The title of one of your shows at the time was ‘Canal Plus will not show any Ligue 1 in 2020’. That’s false. Canal Plus has lost rights to Ligue 1 – that’s true. But to say today we will not broadcast any of Ligue 1…I can guarantee you that we will show Ligue 1 post-2020, I guarantee you. I am certain of it.”

Saada said Mediapro had contacted Canal Plus to initiate carriage negotiations. Mediapro plans to launch a 24/7 football channel following its acquisition of Ligue 1 rights.

Saada added that Canal Plus is negotiating with telco Altice to carry its RMC Sport pay-television channels (formerly SFR Sport) and that a deal to have access to some of the RMC Sport channels “on the near horizon” is “possible”.

RMC Sport holds English Premier League rights in France until the end of the 2018-19 season and will shortly begin its exclusive coverage of Uefa Champions League and Europa League rights in the country.

Saada said: “When we lost the Premier League, we said it was the best football league in Europe but it has disappeared from circulation. It’s been shown by SFR for two years but no-one watches it anymore. There is an issue of exposure, and it is the same for Ligue 1.”