Football's TV rights: rejection for lack of sufficient evidence of Canal + Group's complaint against the LFP

On 29 January 2021, Canal Plus Group ("GCP") referred practices allegedly implemented by the Ligue de Football Professionnel ("LFP") to the Autorité de la concurrence when the football Ligue 1’s broadcasting rights were put back on the market in January 2021. It reproached the LFP, following the failure of Mediapro, of having committed an abuse of a dominant position by releasing on the market only the rights returned by Mediapro, without including rights corresponding to lot 3 (Saturdays 9 p.m. and Sundays 5 p.m. matches), awarded on 29 May 2018 to beIN Sports, which had subsequently sub-licensed it to GCP.

That complaint on the merits of the case was accompanied by a request for interim measures.

At the end of its investigation, the Autorité dismissed GCP's complaint on the merits of the case and the associated request for interim measures, considering that they were not supported by sufficient evidence.