Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR)

The Court of Appeal in Paris will hear the appeals of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby and pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus over the decision to suspend their rights deal for the Top 14 rugby union league on September 4.

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.

France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) has been ordered to launch a tender process at the end of the 2014-15 season for the rights to the Top 14 after the Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, suspended the league’s five-year deal with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus.

The UK rights to the Top 14, French rugby union’s top league, enjoyed a strong increase in value in last week’s deal with pay-television broadcaster BSkyB.

UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB has acquired rights to the Top 14, France’s top-tier rugby union club competition.

A tender for the French broadcast rights to the new European club rugby union competitions will be launched next month, according to Paul Goze, president of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the domestic top-tier Top 14 competition.

The structure of the two new European club rugby competitions, the Rugby Champions Cup and the Rugby Challenge Cup, beginning in the 2014-15 season

Clubs are real winners from BT-Sky sharing deal for European rugby

BeIN Sports has submitted a formal complaint to the Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, after pay-television rival Canal Plus was awarded Top 14 rights by France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), the body that operates the rugby union club competition.

Top 14 rights saga is case study in the use of market power

Canal Plus offers more than double but it's still not enough to hang on to Top 14