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Business of TV Sport
Sportel Monaco 2011

Ligue 2 Friday blackout looms

Ligue 2, the second division of the French football league, the Ligue de Football Professionnel, gets under way this Friday but unless a last-minute broadcasting deal can be struck none of the nine matches played will be televised. The league has failed to reach an agreement with previous rights-holder Ma Chaîne Sport (MCS) despite weeks of negotiations.
In May, when the league auctioned the rights, it rejected an offer from the channel, which is owned by cable operator, Numérîcable. The bid from MCS was higher than that of rival bidder, Orange, but still too low for the league. MCS threatened legal action, arguing that the league could not lawfully ignore the winner of a public auction process.

The two sides are now thought to be very close on price. The stumbling block is an extraordinary request from the league that it be able to take back the rights to the matches – which cover nine matches per week, all but the top Monday-night match – should it decide to launch its own channel at some point during the contract.

When the league turned down the MCS offer, its president, Frédéric Thiriez, said that the league would retain the rights in order to launch a league channel. However, it is unlikely that the league will be in a position to get the channel off the ground before January 2011 at the earliest. In the meantime, the second-division clubs will be losing out on income if no deal is struck for their rights. MCS paid €5 million ($6.6 million) per season in the previous deal and was thought to have offered a slightly higher fee this time.

On Monday, cable and satellite sports broadcaster Eurosport France will show Nantes v Le Mans. Eurosport renewed its deal with the league for another two years, from 2010-2011 to 2011-2012, paying €10 million per season.