Startup Suffers Double Setback to French Soccer Ambitions

(Bloomberg) -- A startup sports company that’s been trying to shake up French soccer broadcasting faces an uncertain future in the country as its biggest competitor begins to fight back.

Spain’s Mediapro shocked the industry last year when it won the right to show most of France’s Ligue 1 competition, depriving Vivendi SA’s Canal+ network of domestic elite soccer for the first time in 34 years.

However, Mediapro’s plan to lure viewers to a new soccer channel costing 25 euros ($27.70) a month was thrown into question last month, when it lost out to Canal+ and another broadcaster, BeIN Sports, for French rights to the elite European Champions League.

Now it’s suffered another blow after BeIN said in a statement on Monday that it’s in talks to sub-license its Ligue 1 matches to Canal+. France’s biggest pay-TV broadcaster will pay 330 million euros per season, Chief Executive Officer Maxime Saada told Le Figaro newspaper.

BeIN holds rights to 28 of the 38 top Ligue 1 games, some of them featuring Paris Saint Germain, the country’s richest club. The potential deal between France’s two biggest sports broadcasters brings Canal+ viewers a crucial slice of that action.

“While upstart broadcasters continue to appear in markets all around the world, bidding enormous amounts for rights they can’t then monetize, in contrast we have a clear, rational and sustainable business plan,” said Yousef Al-Obaidly, chief executive officer of Qatar-based BeIN Media Group.

A spokeswoman for Mediapro said the company isn’t surprised by the announcement, that it doesn’t impact its plan to launch a soccer channel in France, and the plan to do so is viable.

Shares in Canal+ parent company Vivendi edged down 0.3% as of 9:03 a.m. on Tuesday in Paris.

Income Boost

Mediapro’s founder Jaume Roures told Le Figaro on Nov. 29 that the Champions League loss won’t complicate the launch of the new service.

“It’s a quality offering that can live without the Champions League,” he said.

When Roures -- a Spanish media baron and former Trotskyist -- came from nowhere to scoop up the Ligue 1 last year, it was greeted as an audacious move into an already crowded and competitive broadcasting landscape.

French clubs saw an opportunity to close the wealth gap with their richer neighbors in Britain, Spain, Germany and Italy. Mediapro bought two thirds of the league games from 2020 to 2024 and auction proceeds surged by 60% from the previous sale to 1.15 billion euros.

However, when Mediapro was absent from the winner’s podium at the Champions League auction last month, there was speculation that the company may be struggling.

“I don’t see how Mediapro can reach 4 million subscribers at 25 euros when they’re only offering Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 games,” Paris-based sports consultant Vincent Chaudel said after the auction. For fans, “it’s just not worth it.”

Canal+ had 4.6 million subscribers at the end of June. That compares to 3.4 million for BeIN Sports, which started French broadcasts in 2012, while Altice’s RMC Sport had 2 million as of April.

Italian Problem

Mediapro already suffered a setback in Italy last year, winning rights to broadcast the country’s top soccer league, then losing them after failing to provide financial guarantees.

It plans to begin French broadcasts when the next season begins in August 2020. Mediapro has not yet announced who will host the shows or comment on the games. The most notable hire is Julien Bergeaud, a former Eurosport executive who will run the network in France.

Roures told Le Parisien newspaper in October that Mediapro will start building its network from January. A Mediapro spokeswoman said the company is used to setting up networks in a short period of time. She said it hasn’t yet announced journalist hires as many are still under contract with competing outlets.

Canal+ offers soccer, tennis, rugby, as well as shows and movies for 34.90 euros a month. Another joint offering from BeIN and Altice Europe NV’s RMC Sport offers some Ligue 1 and Champions League games for 29 euros a month.

“At the price Mediapro paid, it’s difficult to see it making a return on the rights spend even if it signed up every French household which was potentially willing to pay for access,” said Richard Broughton, an analyst at Ampere Analysis.

To contact the reporters on this story: Angelina Rascouet in Paris at arascouet1@bloomberg.net;David Hellier in London at dhellier@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Thomas Pfeiffer, Jennifer Ryan

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