Téléfoot (TV channel)

Téléfoot is an upcoming French pay television channel owned by Mediapro. Scheduled to launch on 17 August 2020, it was established as part of an agreement to acquire rights to Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football beginning in the 2020-21 season. TF1 Group serves as a content partner for channel, branding it as an extension of its long-running football programme Téléfoot.

Téléfoot
Launched17 August 2020 (2020-08-17)
Owned byMediapro
Picture format576i (16:9 SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
2160p (UHDTV)
SloganLa Chaîne du Foot
(The Channel of Football)
CountryFrance
Broadcast areaFrance
Monaco
WebsiteOfficial website
Availability
Cable
NumericableChannel 122
IPTV
SFRChannel 122
BouyguesComing soon

History

On 29 May 2018, Mediapro won four of the five bundles of media rights to the Ligue de Football Professionnel for 2020-21 through 2024, largely replacing Canal+ as broadcaster of most Ligue 1 fixtures. It was expected that Mediapro would establish a new pay television channel to hold these rights.[1][2][3] In August 2019, Mediapro France appointed Julien Bergeaud as its managing director in preparation for the new rights..[4][5]

In October 2019, in an attempt to bolster the proposed channel, Mediapro bid for the next cycle of French rights to the UEFA Champions League.[6][7] It was unsuccessful (with the rights being acquired by beIN Sports and Canal+),[8] but Mediapro would later reach a three-year deal to carry UEFA Europa League matches on the new channel beginning in the 2021–22 season, covering 266 matches per-season, and Europa Conference League matches. Canal+ holds the first pick of 16 Europa League matches per-season, selected UECL matches, and the finals for both.[9][10]

In January 2020, Mediapro submitted an application to the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) for approval of the new channel, stating that it planned to charge €25 per-month, and aimed to reach 3.5 million subscribers.[11][12]

On 2 June 2020, Mediapro announced that it had partnered with TF1 Group to brand the new channel as Téléfoot — an extension of the long-running TF1 football programme of the same name. As part of the partnership, TF1 will also provide editorial resources and talent for the channel, including its broadcast team of Grégoire Margotton and Bixente Lizarazu for marquee matches.[13][14]

On 27 July 2020, it was reported that Téléfoot was negotiating an agreement to sub-license half of Altice/RMC Sport's rights to the UEFA Champions League for the 2020–21 season (the last season of its existing rights), as part of Altice's downsizing of its sports broadcasting business. The agreement was also reported to include carriage of Téléfoot on SFR.[15]

On 30 July 2020, L'Équipe reported that Mediapro had reached a partnership with Netflix to offer bundles of the service with Téléfoot at a discount. It was also suggested that Netflix could provide backend support for the channel's over-the-top services, although Netflix itself will not carry the network's content.[16][17]

Bouygues Telecom signed an agreement for the distribution on August 14, 2020[18]

Programming

Match coverage

Personnel

Journalists

Consultant

References
  1. "Canal+ loses Ligue 1 football to Mediapro in major upset". Digital TV Europe. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  2. Borde, Alexandre (29 May 2018). "Droits TV du foot : la Ligue 1 obtient 1,1 milliard, Canal+ sur la touche". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  3. "Droits TV : Canal+ perd toute la Ligue 1 à partir de 2020 - Foot - L1". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  4. "Foot/TV : Julien Bergeaud nommé directeur de la future chaîne française de Mediapro". Europe 1 (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  5. "Avec Julien Bergeaud, le futur diffuseur de la Ligue 1 Mediapro a un patron - Foot - L1". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  6. "La Ligue des Champions sur Mediapro à partir de 2021 ?". Football 365 (in French). 14 October 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  7. Media365 (14 October 2019). "Ligue des Champions : Une diffusion sur Mediapro dès 2021 ?". Orange Sports (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  8. LOISEL, Franck. "Mediapro et sa chaîne "Telefoot" chez Amaury Média pour la régie publicitaire !". www.sport-tv.org (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  9. "Europa League and Conference land on Canal+ from 2021/22 - SportsPro Media". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. "Main French Europa League rights lot picked up by Mediapro". SportsPro. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  11. "Mediapro awaiting approval for Ligue 1 pay-TV channel -". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  12. "Mediapro a déposé son dossier au CSA". France Football. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  13. "Mediapro and TF1 team up to launch Téléfoot channel". Digital TV Europe. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  14. "Ligue 1: la chaîne de Mediapro s'appellera « Téléfoot »". RMC SPORT (in French). Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  15. "Champions League to air on Mediapro's Téléfoot in RMC Sport deal, says report". SportsPro. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  16. "Mediapro's Téléfoot teams with Netflix for bundle offer". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  17. "Médias : Téléfoot va s'associer à Netflix - Foot - médias". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  18. "Téléfoot will be available on Bouygues Telecom". Challenges.
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