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Ligue 1 Puts Its Domestic TV Rights Back on the Market as the Ligue 1+ Exit Window Closes In

Ligue 1 opens domestic TV rights bidding in November, with a new single-lot law and Ligue 1+ as fallback as its March exit clause nears. (

Football Business News

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Ligue 1 Reopens the Bidding for Its Domestic TV Rights, With Ligue 1+ as the Fallback

Media Rights Finance France 08 Oct 2026
Ligue 1 will open bidding for its domestic broadcast rights in November. For the first time in six years, the league goes to market with a working fallback: its own streaming service.
Parc des Princes, home of Paris Saint-Germain
Parc des Princes. Every Ligue 1 match is currently shown on the league's own platform, Ligue 1+. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

This is not a renewal. It is a test of whether outside broadcasters will pay more than the league can earn on its own.

LFP Media, the league's commercial arm, plans to launch the tender next month, Inside World Football reported, citing L'Équipe. Director general Olivier Bramly told a board meeting on Tuesday that his summer talks with broadcasters had been encouraging.

Those talks covered Canal Plus, RMC Sport, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Bramly had already told AFP the league was seriously considering a tender because it was receiving expressions of interest. Clubs and the LFP board still have to approve the process.

Nov Month the domestic rights bidding is due to open
March When the get-out clause in the Ligue 1+ arrangement expires
2029 Date Ligue 1+ is contracted through
1 lot Rights can now be sold as a single bundle under French law

Six years of broken deals

The tender comes after a long run of failed contracts.

Mediapro's deal collapsed in 2020. Amazon stepped in, and the fallout damaged the league's relationship with Canal Plus. DAZN then took over but walked away one year into a five-year deal, unhappy with the terms and with piracy.

The league launched Ligue 1+ in summer 2025, with beIN Sports taking one match per round. beIN has since gone as well. Each step has meant less money for the clubs.

Why the timing matters Ligue 1+ is contracted to 2029, but its exit clause runs out in March. If the league wants to move rights to a third party before then, it has to run the process now.

The single-lot change

A new law on professional sport governance lets the LFP sell the rights as one package rather than splitting them across several broadcasters.

That matters for the biggest buyers. Apple reportedly stepped back in 2023 because it feared the rights would be fragmented. Earlier L'Équipe reporting pointed to a tender covering 2029 to 2034, though Bramly has not confirmed the period.

The fallback Unlike past tenders, the LFP can keep the rights on Ligue 1+ if bids fall short. Bramly calls the platform French football's life insurance.
The audience case The Trophée des Champions and Rennes v PSG each topped 700,000 viewers on Ligue 1+ this season.
The buyer problem Canal Plus and DAZN have both been in legal disputes with the LFP. Several of the likely bidders have a difficult history with the league.

The clubs need the money

Revenue from Ligue 1+ has stayed below expectations, and many clubs are under heavy financial pressure. A single-bundle deal with a major platform is the quickest route back to the rights income the league has lost.

The benchmark is unforgiving. In the last cycle, the league set a target of €1 billion a year across domestic and international rights, and fell well short.

Bidding opens in November. Until offers arrive, the tender only shows that the league is willing to sell, not what buyers will pay.

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