French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has failed in its efforts to revise the programming schedule for Ligue 1, the top division of domestic club football.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel last week confirmed Canal Plus had put forward a revised approach for its coverage of Ligue 1 which included a change to the Sunday night schedule and the broadcast of two of its three main matches on the Canal Plus Sport channel.
Canal Plus had sought to change the kick-off time for the top match on Sunday night from 8:45pm to 9pm, but newspaper L’Equipe said the LFP has elected to stick to the terms of the rights contract. The league said this secures matches on Friday and Sunday nights at 8:45pm for a “greater clarity and a more favourable schedule for the operation of games”.
The forthcoming 2016-17 season is the first of a new four-year rights window, under which Canal Plus will pay €540m ($592.9m) per season for its content. In April 2014, Canal Plus acquired rights in France for the two main packages of the next cycle of domestic rights for Ligue 1, while rival pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports acquired the other four packages. The agreements will run for four seasons, from 2016-17 to 2019-20.
Canal Plus acquired packages one and two in the tender. Package one includes 28 first-choice matches, 10 second-choice matches and 38 third-choice matches per season plus a Saturday and Sunday evening highlights programme. Package two includes 28 matches and a Sunday evening magazine programme.
The LFP is yet to decide on Canal Plus's request to broadcast matches on its Canal Plus Sport channel.