The Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the French professional rugby union league, has launched the sales process for rights to the top-tier Top 14 and second-tier Pro D2 divisions.
The rights for the Top 14 will cover four seasons, from 2015-16 to 2018-19, and include the final of the 2014-15 season. The rights for the Pro D2 will cover five seasons, from 2015-16 to 2019-20.
Bids must be submitted by January 19.
Six packages are available for the Top 14, including two ‘official broadcaster’ packages comprising alternate selections of one game per day during the regular season plus ‘extracts’ of coverage during the week.
Broadcasters that acquire the official broadcaster packages will then be able to bid for the other four ‘premium’ packages.
The first premium package comprises the first choice of a game each match day during the regular season, including exclusive coverage of seven games, after the matches covered by the official broadcaster packages.
Package two features second-choice games during the regular season and the post-season, after the matches covered by the official broadcaster packages, plus a weekly magazine programme every Sunday.
Package three contains co-broadcast rights to nine matches during the regular season plus post-season fixtures, multiplex coverage of the final day of the campaign and a weekly magazine programme every Saturday.
Package four offers coverage of three matches per game day – the fifth to seventh-choice matches – during the regular season.
Rights to the Top 14 final will be offered separately, with the LNR proposing free-to-air coverage. Rights for the Pro D2 are also available, with free-to-air broadcasters able to bid for co-broadcast rights for eight regular-season games, one semi-final and the final.
Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus is the current Top 14 rights-holder, but its five-year deal, from 2014-15 to 2018-19, was cut short by the Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, which ordered a new tender process to run from the start of next season.