Canal Plus secures exclusive Premier League rights in five markets until 2028
Canal Plus, has extended its exclusive rights deal with the English Premier League, the top division of English soccer, for three more seasons until 2027-28.
The agreement covers France, Switzerland (French language only), the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Vietnam and gives Canal Plus access to all 380 matches per season across its linear channels, its streaming service myCANAL and its dedicated channel Canal Plus Premier League.
The Premier League’s chief media officer Paul Molnar praised Canal Plus as an “outstanding partner” that has delivered “market-leading and innovative coverage” of the league in these territories.
Canal Plus currently holds the exclusive Premier League rights in France for the 2022-23 to 2024-25 cycle, having secured them in July 2021. It also had the rights for the previous cycle from 2019-20 to 2021-22, taking over from RMC Sport, which had them from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
The deal strengthens Canal Plus’ soccer portfolio, which also includes France’s Ligue 1, the UEFA Champions League, the Saudi Pro League, and D1 Arkema, the French women’s league.
Maxime Saada, chair and chief executive of Canal Plus Group, said: “We are delighted to have acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to the Premier League for several key regions of the group. Above all, it is a source of great pleasure for our subscribers, who unanimously recognize the Premier League as the most competitive championship in Europe, with the best clubs and players on the planet involved.”
The rights deal comes amid Canal Plus’ ongoing legal battle with the LFP, the French professional soccer body, over its domestic Ligue 1 rights. Canal Plus has been trying to terminate its sub-licensing deal with BeIN Sports to show two Ligue 1 matches per week after protesting against the LFP’s decision to award Amazon eight matches per week for a much lower price of €250 million ($261 million) per year.
The LFP recently announced it will offer rights for the 2024-25 to 2028-29 seasons of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 after getting approval from the French government to extend the length of its contracts from four to five seasons. Canal Plus is reportedly interested in bidding for the rights despite its dispute.
Meanwhile, the Premier League is also considering major changes to its domestic television rights that could see an increase of 25% in live matches broadcast during the season.
According to The Daily Telegraph, league executives are expected to offer broadcasters four additional televised matches on Sunday, including a new 6.30pm kick-off slot.
The proposal would end any plans of challenging the UK’s traditional Saturday 3pm TV blackout while guaranteeing broadcasters at least 270 games per season out of the 380 played, up from the current 200 available.
The Premier League is set to launch a domestic tender process for the first time since 2018 after rolling over its existing deals with pay-TV giants Sky and TNT Sports (formerly known as BT Sport) and online retail giant Amazon.
