<p class="has-medium-font-size">Exclusive: United Kingdom TV broadcaster TNT Sports has decided not to renew its rights deal with Ligue 1, sources have confirmed to <em>World Soccer Talk</em>. </p>



<p class="has-medium-font-size">TNT Sports, <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/premier-league-broadcaster-bt-sport-renamed-tnt-sports-20230222-WST-420914.html">previously known as BT Sport</a>, had the exclusive Ligue 1 rights until mid-May 2024, broadcasting more than 200 Ligue 1 games per season. In spite of this, <em>World Soccer Talk </em>has learned that TNT Sports executives informed employees late last week that it was time for a change. As of press time, no UK broadcaster has picked up the rights, so it means fans there cannot watch the French league until a deal materializes with a different broadcaster.</p>



<p>This comes at the same time that the French governing body Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has been struggling to find broadcasters to televise Ligue 1 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. beIN SPORTS’ US rights to Ligue 1 expired at the end of the 2023/24 season but an agreement has been reached to show <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/ligue-1-returns-to-bein-sports-for-start-of-2024-25-season/">Ligue 1 games in the USA</a> starting this weekend.</p>



<h2>No Ligue 1 in UK? Relief for fans in France, concerns elsewhere</h2>



<p class="has-medium-font-size">Last month, there was great relief from French soccer fans when the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/decision-reached-in-546-million-deal-for-ligue-1-rights-in-france/">domestic TV rights</a> deal was finally agreed. It means that fans of Ligue 1 clubs in France can watch games across beIN SPORTS, DAZN, and <a href="https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2024/08/13/new-agreement-between-canal-and-dazn-for-ligue-1-start/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Canal+</a>. With the brand <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/ligue-un-tv-schedule/">new season starting on Friday</a> in the picturesque port town of Le Havre, the question still looms large. But, this time, it’s about international TV rights.</p>



<p>As things stand, beIN Media Group has been reluctant to continue its partnership to broadcast Ligue 1 outside France.<br><br>That surprisingly includes the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, home to beIN SPORTS which is based in Doha. That part of the world was their only coverage area when beIN SPORTS first launched as the Al Jazeera Media Network back in 2012. <br><br>Over the next decade, beIN SPORTS MENA faced <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/6/16/explainer-the-piracy-case-against-saudis-beoutq-channel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple challenges</a> that led to numerous changes in their offerings. After dropping Serie A broadcasting rights in 2021, beIN SPORTS has also cut France’s top division from its listing, starting this season. Of course, that is unless a late deal can be signed.<br><br>The same is the case for Sub-Saharan Africa viewers with Ligue 1’s long-standing partner Canal + Afrique. Earlier last month, Canal + distanced itself from domestic bidding after a <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/ligue-1-domestic-tv-deal-hints-at-shifting-european-climate/">tense legal battle</a> with LFP.<br><br>Previous rightsholders in India, Sports18, are yet to comment on the continued partnership with LFP.</p>



<p><em>World Soccer Talk </em>has reached out to LFP’s Ligue 1 officials for comment.</p>



<h2>What changed to cause broadcasters to not renew?</h2>



<p>When <em>World Soccer Talk </em>spoke with LFP executives late last year, they were optimistic about a new TV rights deal being done.</p>



<p>“Ligue 1 wants to connect with fans in a very different way than before,” LFP Chief Executive Ben Morel said at the time. That included the US broadcast deal it was working on. “We believe we are well primed to be successful there [in the USA],” he added.</p>



<p>Back when Ligue 1 negotiated its previous TV deals with broadcasters, the league was blessed with several world-class stars. The Argentine phenomenon Lionel Messi joined his ex-clubmate Neymar and France’s Kylian Mbappé at PSG in the summer of 2021. Little by little, those players left the club. Gone too were Angel di Maria and Sergio Ramos.<br><br>Certainly, the biggest blow is the departure of Mbappé to Real Madrid. Without him, both PSG and Ligue 1 are much weaker in appealing to sports viewers worldwide. It’s a major blow for both league and Ligue 1’s flagship club.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Le générique de la Ligue 1 McDonald&apos;s pour la saison 2024/2025 !" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7aZ4lHk-QhY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
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<h2>Clubs boosted by transfer signings after French TV deal finalized</h2>



<p>In some ways, the presence of star names at PSG created a gulf between the club owned by <a href="https://www.qsi.com.qa/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Qatar Sports Investments</a> (QSI) and the rest. But, as it stands, that presented Ligue 1’s only chance to compete with the bigger leagues for signings of superstars.<br><br>That includes convincing the local talents to stay in the league as seen by Desire Doue’s impending transfer with Nasser Al-Khelaifi triumphant against his familiar foe Bayern Munich. PSG already splashed more than $100m before the commitment to the Olympic silver medalist.<br><br>But they’re not the only overspenders this time around. The Olympiques – Lyon and Marseille – invested a lot of money in their respective squads despite missing out on the UEFA Champions League. Adi Hutter’s Monaco will return to Europe’s premier competition and they showed their readiness level with an emphatic 3-0 win in a friendly against Barcelona at Camp Nou on Monday.<br><br>The movements in the transfer market kicked in after LFP secured the domestic TV deal. But Ligue 1 fans from the rest of the world are still waiting for answers. Will they be able to watch France’s top-tier soccer season that begins later this week?</p>



<p><em>Additional reporting by Christopher Harris.</em></p>



<p><em>Photo: IMAGO / Noah Wedel</em>.</p>

Ligue 1 dropped by TNT Sports in UK as concerns rise among fans

Fans who want to watch Ligue 1 in the UK (United Kingdom) are concerned after TNT Sports decided not to renew the rights to the league.

Ligue 1 dropped by TNT Sports in UK as concerns rise among fans - World Soccer Talk


<p>BT Sport, a pay-TV channel in the United Kingdom, will undergo a rebrand this summer to TNT Sports. The channel, which broadcasts the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/premier-league-tv-schedule/">Premier League</a> and the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/champions-league-tv-schedule/">Champions League</a> in the UK, is part of the Warner Bros-Discovery family. The same goes for TNT, hence the name change.</p>



<p>Steve McCaskill from <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/bt-sport-tnt-sports-eurosport-merger-streaming-discovery/?zephr_sso_ott=dxvc8M" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SportPro</a> notes the bundling of BT Sport into TNT gives the media conglomerate consistency. <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/us-soccer-announce-new-tv-deal-turner-sports-20220301-CMS-373327.html">TNT broadcasts the USMNT and USWNT</a> stateside. It also has coverage of the NHL and NBA. Now, internationally, the same name will broadcast more soccer in the form of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League (although in the UK only, and not in the US).</p>



<h5>Discovery+ to have live Premier League broadcasts</h5>



<p>As a result of this joint venture, BT Sport’s live sports offerings will land on streaming platform Discovery+ before the 2023/24 campaign begins. Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of WBD Sports Europe, called the merger with Discovery+ a ‘simpler proposition’ for customers. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Warner Bros. Discovery confirms TNT Sports as the new name that will replace BT Sport in the U.K. &amp; Ireland from July 2023.<br><br>Read more:<a href="https://t.co/Whi4czPydz">https://t.co/Whi4czPydz</a><a href="https://twitter.com/wbd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wbd</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/btsport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@btsport</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/eurosport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@eurosport</a> <a href="https://t.co/DYw4We9XdM">pic.twitter.com/DYw4We9XdM</a></p>— Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe (@WBDsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/WBDsports/status/1628077934375317515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>The joint venture also includes Eurosport, a group of channels that broadcasts select soccer leagues. However, the main draw for Eurosport is the fact that it broadcasts the Olympics in most of the European countries.</p>



<p>With Eurosport airing on Discovery+ and on TV in some countries, it will not join the TNT Sports nomenclature until after the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Official timing on a rebrand for Eurosport also requires discussion with Sky and Virgin Media. Those two providers include the Eurosport channel in their listings. </p>



<h2>BT Sport to TNT Sports is no more than a rebrand on same content</h2>



<p>Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Sport ensure that nothing changes. The channel numbers, production content and overall offerings are the same. In fact, BT Sport extended its deal to broadcast UEFA club competitions in the UK through 2027. </p>



<p>It plans to continue to broadcast the Premier League with Sky and Amazon when the league reopens its renewal process. However, DAZN and Apple are rumored to be interested in acquiring domestic Premier League rights. </p>



<p><em>PHOTO: IMAGO / Sportimage</em></p>



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<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="BT Sport Studio fly-through" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xFT6CZUmafQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>


UK pay-TV channel BT Sport is undergoing a rebrand to TNT Sports, a familiar name for soccer and sports fans in the United States.

Premier League broadcaster BT Sport renamed TNT Sports


<p>After <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com/2022/06/14/apple-mls-agree-10-year-media-rights-deal/">Apple’s purchase of MLS streaming rights</a> in the US, the tech giant is <a href="https:\/\/dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11633733/Apple-TV-set-enter-bidding-war-Premier-League-rights.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rumored</a> to be interested in acquiring rights to the Premier League in the United Kingdom. While most pundits don’t expect Apple to be more than a partial player in any deal, don’t put anything past Apple to shake things up in the British soccer TV market.</p>



<h2>First Premier League bidding process in UK since 2018</h2>



<p>Current television and streaming rights to the Premier League in the UK are set to expire at the end of the 2024/25 season. The auction is set to begin later this year. In reality, it’s the first bidding process for the rights since 2018. Even though domestic Premier League rights are up for grabs every three years in the UK, the current term was a “gift” to those who won the bidding in 2018 as those rights were renewed in the light of Covid for an additional three-year term. </p>



<p>The original 2018 bidding process saw three packages of rights sold to Sky Sports (128 matches); BT Sport (52 matches); and Amazon (20 matches).</p>



<h2>A different game compared to MLS rights</h2>



<p>To really put things in perspective, Sky Sports paid $4.8 billion for their three-year/128 matches per season deal for the United Kingdom only. While Apple did dish out $2.5 billion for MLS rights, it was for every single match over a 10-year period in a global deal. While acquiring rights in the United Kingdom is a lot more expensive, there’s a lot less risk. Prior to Covid, rights’ prices have had a skyrocketing upward trajectory:</p>


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<h2>A friendlier landscape for Apple</h2>



<p>As of today, no less than eight Premier League clubs have a majority or 100% ownership by American investors: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Liverpool and Manchester United. The American owners have made it very clear that increased revenue from TV/streaming rights is necessary to recoup their investments. </p>



<p>They have also not shied away from pointing to the NFL and other American sports’ structures as a way to approach the Premier League. The clash of cultures aside, this group of investors would likely embrace Apple as not only a small player but <em>the</em> major player. And lets not forget that Apple, as of the latest fiscal quarter, is sitting on close to $50 billion in cash.</p>



<h2>A new era for the Premier League is coming</h2>



<p>Sky Sports has been a partner of the Premier League since its official inception in 1992. It’s difficult to see a TV landscape without them being involved but anything is possible in this tech era. </p>



<p>BT Sport, a current holder of 52 matches per season, will no longer exist in the very near future – at least in name. BT Sport was bought out by yet another US-based company, Warner Bros and will merge its content with another Warner owned sports service, EuroSport. The channel(s) will be distributed via Discovery+. </p>



<p>So it becomes a question of how much interest Warner has in bidding for Premier League rights. Warner Bros-Discovery in the US are the new rights holders of the men’s and women’s US National teams. So Apple certainly will not have an easy time in any bidding process. </p>



<p>Most pundits expect Apple to, at best, replace Amazon as a small-package rights’ holder but I believe that would only be the fall-back position for Apple. </p>



<p>History may record that Apple’s acquisition of MLS rights in the US was just the precursor to a major shakeup of the UK TV and streaming landscape and a new era for the Premier League.</p>



<p><em>Photo: IMAGO / photothek</em></p>


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Apple Premier League UK TV rights? It sounds implausible but it could be true when the bidding discussions begin later this year.

Apple aims to break up Sky Sports Premier League cabal in UK - World Soccer Talk

Apple aims to break up Sky Sports Premier League cabal in UK

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<p>With the battle for the new Barclays Premier League television rights set to begin at the start of the New Year, it is understood that the competing networks are keen on producing Friday night matches in the near future. BT Sport and Sky Sports are thought to be bidding up to an astounding £5 billion to secure the rights to air Premier League matches starting in 2016. If true, the shocking fee would crush the previous television deal with the league by around £2 billion.</p>
<p>While having the most competitive soccer league in the world on an extra night of the week seems like a brilliant idea, there are definitely pros and cons to each side of the argument.</p>
<p>First of all, there could be issues with the lack of quality teams being available for the Friday night matchups. There are six weeks of Champions League group stage matches played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between September and December every season. Then depending on how far a high-level team makes it in the European competition, they could play midweek from February to May.</p>
<p>Europa League matches make scheduling even more difficult. The second-tier European tournament follows basically the same schedule as the <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/category/leagues-champions-league/">Champions League</a>; however, matches in Europa League play are scheduled on Thursdays.</p>
<p>Surely it is feasibly possible for some Champions League and Europa League caliber teams to squeeze a couple of Friday night matches into their season (and these teams could have an advantage of an extra day of rest if they have these European matches the following week). However, it would appear that many of the potential Friday night games would feature teams from outside the top seven of the table.</p>
<p>Another impending problem in having Friday night games in the <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/category/leagues-epl/">Premier League</a> deals with television ratings. Stateside, we have something called the “Friday night death slot”. It turns out that while the name sounds cool, the “Friday night death slot” is actually something very bad.</p>
<p>With most people taking a break from their televisions to actually leave their homes, television ratings during Friday evenings are generally the lowest rated of any other time during the week here in America. Obviously, Friday matches would occur at night in England and sometime around 3pm EST here in the U.S.</p>
<p>On the flip side, as a big fan of the league, being able to see games on more occasions seems mouthwatering to me personally. With league matches already scheduled on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, not to mention European games on some Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the only day of the week without British soccer is currently Friday.</p>
<p>The Friday night soccer issue is currently being thrown around and will not be finally decided upon until the beginning of 2015.</p>
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ALL POSTS TAGGED "BT Sport"

News

Ligue 1 dropped by TNT Sports in UK as concerns rise among fans

BT Sport

Premier League broadcaster BT Sport renamed TNT Sports

Amazon

Apple aims to break up Sky Sports Premier League cabal in UK

Leagues: EPL

Premier League Could be Set to Introduce Friday Night Matches