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Paris (pte018/13.12.2004/10:30) - French pay-per-view channel Canal Plus http://www.canalplus.fr has won exclusive rights to broadcast live French first division football matches for the next three years. As the Financial Times (FT) http://www.ft.com reports, the deal with the subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, worth a record 1.8 billion euros, makes French football the most expensive for TV rights in the world, overtaking the English Premiership's previous record three-year deal of 1.13 billion pounds (1.65 billion euros) agreed on by BSkyB and the BBC last year.
In recent times, Canal Plus has been in a battle with its rival TPS http://www.tps.fr to dominate the French pay-TV market. It secured a clean sweep victory over TPS by making the highest bids for each of the four TV-rights packages auctioned separately on Friday. France Telecom had also bid for one of the packages.
The record bid has surprised analysts, who had expected offers closer to 500 million euros a year. The bid was almost double TPS's total offer and 60 per cent more than the rights cost three years ago, when they were shared by Canal Plus and TPS. Financial service provider Merrill Lynch predicted Canal Plus's victory would only allow it to add 150,000 subscribers to its total of 4.9 million, "as most French football fanatics already take the service". The investment company had previously warned that a 600 million euro a year bid would result in a loss of 384 million euros.
The deal is expected to be good news for French football clubs, who will reportedly make combined losses of 30 million euros this year. Lower gate receipts and higher taxes mean they are at a disadvantage to the big European leagues. Furthermore, as many of France's best footballers play overseas, the French Ligue 1 lacks the superstars of England's Premiership, Spain's Primera Liga or Italy's Serie A. The proceeds of the deal will be split 80 per cent for first division teams and 20 per cent for second division teams. Canal Plus are hoping their monopoly of French football will help lure thousands of subscribers away from TPS, forcing it to concede defeat and agree to be taken over.
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