Here are the main stages of the crisis that led to the breach of the contract binding the Sino-Spanish group to the Professional Football League (LFP), recorded Tuesday by the Nanterre Commercial Court.
May 2018: Mediapro comes out of the hat
On May 29, 2018, the LFP triumphantly announced that it had sold the national TV rights to Ligue 1 for 2020-2024 against an annual amount of 1.153 billion euros, including 780 million supposed to come from Mediapro. A godsend for elite clubs which derive more than a third of their revenues from TV rights on average.
The historic broadcaster Canal + publicly expresses doubts about the soundness of Mediapro, which lost the rights to Serie A in Italy for lack of a bank guarantee. But the LFP wants to be reassuring. “We have no concerns, because the situations are not comparable and because we have a joint guarantee from the reference shareholder of Mediapro,” said its executive director Didier Quillot.
August 2020: the Téléfoot channel comes out of the ground
Against 25.90 euros per month, the new Téléfoot channel created by Mediapro offers viewers eight matches per day, including the ten most beautiful posters of the season.
The expected launch on August 21 is marred by covid-19. The League is forced to postpone the Marseille-Saint-Etienne shock, because of contaminated players, replacing it with a sad Bordeaux-Nantes (0-0).
October 7: the bomb dropped by Roures
On September 24, Mediapro asked the League for a payment deadline concerning the next deadline for audiovisual rights, expected on October 5.
The boss of Mediapro explains in an interview with L’Equipe on October 7. “We want to discuss the contract again this season. She is very affected by covid-19 ”, explains Jaume Roures. “Bars and restaurants are closed, advertising has collapsed …” The next day, the League let know through its new president Vincent Labrune that it refuses the payment deadline. In L’Equipe, he says he is “surprised on the form and worried about the substance”.
Mid-October: formal notice of the LFP
The League raises the tone in a letter to the clubs unveiled on October 15: “We (…) have put them on notice to settle the dates of October 1 and 5, while activating the guarantee given by the parent company”, the Chinese fund Orient Hontai Capital. “Either a favorable outcome is found with Mediapro, or this is not the case, and it will be necessary to consider the takeover of the contract by other operators”, announces the Executive Director General Arnaud Rouger.
In the letter, we also learn that Mediapro has entered into a mediation procedure with the Nanterre commercial court, which allows companies to negotiate with their creditors. On October 19, the French clubs validate in a general meeting the subscription of a loan of 112 million euros by the League, a breath of fresh air only temporary while the League had already borrowed 224.5 million euros in the spring in the face of the pandemic.
October 21: Téléfoot “will not disappear”
The Téléfoot channel “will not disappear, neither tomorrow, nor the day after tomorrow,” said Roures in an interview, where the boss of the broadcaster Mediapro said “optimist”.
On December 5, however, the League did not receive the expected third installment of the season. Mediapro considers itself not liable for this deadline as long as the conciliation process is in progress.
December 11: breach of contract
The League seals a withdrawal agreement with Mediapro, obtaining 100 million euros in compensation in exchange for the assurance not to sue the broadcaster. This agreement has yet to be validated by the commercial court.
December 22: the LFP recovers its rights
Justice validates the agreement recording the withdrawal of Mediapro.
The League announced to recover “the full enjoyment of the rights previously held by Mediapro”, that is to say 80% of the L1 and the L2, and to seek new broadcasters for the cycle 2020-2024.
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