Since Monday, August 12, the LFP has taken a new step in its fight against illegal broadcasters (IPTV), but it may well be that the expected results will not be forthcoming.
It has been several weeks now since the agreement between the LFP (Professional Football League) and the DAZN/BeIN Sports duo was signed. This deal allows clubs to receive TV rights and finance their transfer window, but for users, this now means that they will have to pay again…
Faced with this observation, many households have chosen IPTV: an illegal method that allows access to the catalogs of all French private channels, but also foreign ones. This mass of viewers therefore represents a real loss of earnings for the league which intends to recover them by waging a legitimate war against illegal broadcasters, but that may not be enough.
An ineffective fight against IPTV (or downloading in general)
The fight against downloading has often been a bitter failure, and this for a simple reason: Illegal sites are recreated as soon as they are banned and no longer go through a “.com” but through a “.fr”, “.io”etc. Cutting off access to an illegal site is therefore like cutting off the head of a hydra: it serves no purpose.
And professional football didn’t need to experience this, because For years, cinema and music have been fighting against illegal downloading and have already proven that attacking sites is an ineffective method.
The LFP can therefore still hope to succeed in its move, but there is little reason why a method which does not work in two other sectors should suddenly work for football.
However, the fight is not without a solution and many spectators do not turn to illegality with a light heart. So there is a method to win them back.or at least to seduce some of them. To do this, it is advisable to turn to cinema and music.
Offer an affordable deal for the viewer
Downloading movies and series saw a real drop in usage between 2016 and 2020. Why? Because an affordable legal offer was proposed by Netflix and allowed a large number of users to legally access a large catalog of films.
However, downloading has seen a sharp increase since 2020, due to the proliferation of platforms (Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, etc.) and The increase in the price of subscriptions has made the paid offer less attractive over timebut the initial observation remains valid: when an affordable legal offer exists, many spectators abandon the illegal.
The same observation can be made for music with Spotify, which has managed to attract millions of young listeners to legality.
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The problem with the current LFP offer
Committed until 2029, DAZN has almost all Ligue 1 matches… To watch the 8 championship matches offered by the channel (and thus be able to follow the club of your choice), you will have to pay at least €29.99 per month (with a 12-month commitment) or €39.99 (without commitment).
€30 per month to have “only” Ligue 1, where the Prime Video offer (cheaper: €14.99 + €6.99 or €21.98) also included the platform’s catalogue of films and series. An exorbitant price to which you will have to add the BeIN Sports subscription to get the missing match per day, or a total of €45 (if we take the Connect offer at €15 per month).
And beyond a value judgment on Ligue 1, A similar move had already been attempted in 2018 with the Mediapro group which at the time offered a €25 subscription (also including part of the Champions League). Result? Only 500,000 subscriptions and unpaid TV rights in 2020.
It is therefore difficult to believe that the number of subscribers could be higher with a more expensive and less comprehensive offer.
