The Ligue de Football Professionnel, which operates the French football league, has launched its sales process for the domestic rights covering Ligue 1, the top division in the country.
The rights will cover four seasons, from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
The LFP will offer question-and-answer sessions with interested parties from May 7-17 before the May 28 deadline for the submission of bids. The results of the auction are set to be announced the following day.
As part of the sales process, the LFP has confirmed it is scrapping its Saturday night multiplex offering, with the matches being switched to 3pm on Sundays.
The league said the shift would allow the LFP to offer three big matches in primetime on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings – a format used by Ligue 1 between 2008-09 and 2011-12.
A new fixture will also kick off at 1pm on Sundays, an “optimal time in Asia”, the LFP said.
A total of seven packages will be available, with the LFP allowing sublicensing on all lots for the first time:
– Lot one will offer one live match every Sunday at 9pm and two magazine programmes before and after the contest;
– Lot two will include two live matches per round, including one match on Fridays at 9pm and one on Saturdays at 5pm, as well as a Friday evening pre-game programme;
– Lot three will include two live matches – one on Saturdays at 9pm and one on Sundays at 5pm, plus a post-match magazine programme on Saturday evenings;
– Lot four will feature up to five live matches per round kicking off at 1pm and 3pm on Sundays, as well as a Sunday morning magazine programme;
– Lot five will include the rights to the Champions Trophy pre-season match, as well as the three multiplex days – on rounds 19, 37 and 38, plus the play-offs to decide promotion and relegation between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2;
– Lot six will cover near-live video-on-demand clip rights;
– Lot seven will cover magazine programmes on Monday and Thursday evenings.
The current rights cycle, covering 2016-17 to 2019-20, generates a total of €748.5m ($911m) per season. LFP executive director Didier Quillot said he is expecting the upcoming auction to generate “significantly more”.
The LFP was originally expected to put the rights on the market before the end of 2017 in an attempt to take advantage of competition between broadcasters following the aggression of pay-television broadcaster SFR Sport.
However, the league’s incumbent rights-holders – pay-television broadcasters Canal Plus and beIN Sports, as well as SFR Sport – had asked for the auction to be delayed until this year.