French league launches own channel to broadcast Ligue 1

The French football league (LFP) announced on Tuesday the creation of its own channel to broadcast Ligue 1 matches next season, after clubs voted in favour of ending a deal with DAZN.

An agreement was struck for a “TV and digital platform entirely dedicated to Ligue 1” following a meeting of club presidents, the LFP’s board of directors and representatives of its commercial arm, LFP Media.

The new channel will show eight of nine matches each weekend, with Qatar’s beIN Sports keeping the rights to broadcast the remaining game. 

Clubs in April voted for the large part in favour of ending the previous deal with streaming platform DAZN after a breakdown in relations between the two parties. It had only been agreed last July, a couple of weeks before the 2024-25 season started.

That arrangement promised Ligue 1 clubs just 400 million euros ($471 million) a year. 

Adding in other deals, including with international broadcasters, the French league was still far short of its stated ambition of bringing in one billion euros annually from TV.

As a result, Ligue 1’s TV deal last season was down on its previous contract, leaving France trailing even further behind Europe’s biggest leagues — the Premier League’s upcoming domestic rights deal for the next four years is valued at 2.02 billion euros per season.