The French soccer’s LFP league organizer has secured another legal victory against its broadcast partners, this time against pay-TV giant BeIN. The court ruling mandates BeIN to pay the body €14.13 million ($16.85 million), a fee that represents money withheld from the LFP Media commercial subsidiary in this year’s media rights payments.
BeIN had been withholding around €4 million from each €18 million instalment due to an ongoing disagreement over broadcast pick preferences. This dispute was brought before the Paris Commercial Court, which dismissed all of BeIN's claims but left room for an appeal. BeIN currently holds rights to one top-tier Ligue 1 match per gameweek through the current 2025-26 campaign in a deal worth €78.5 million per year. However, it has been withholding money from each instalment as a protest against conditions attached to its coverage of the Saturday 5 pm fixture.
These conditions include restrictions on showing the same team more than eight times per season or twice consecutively and requirements to alternate between first and second pick of games for each matchday.
Legal battles and broadcast contracts
The LFP has found itself entangled in numerous legal disputes recently, primarily with its own broadcasters such as BeIN, Canal+, and DAZN. It most recently emerged victorious over Canal+ and BeIN regarding a 2021 broadcast contract awarded to Amazon Prime Video.
BeIN Sports spokeperson, said:
“We take note of the initial first-instance decision of the Court and will, of course, immediately study all options for appeal. This case was brought as a matter of principle, to defend contractual loyalty and protect BeIN Sports from conduct that has been harmful and inconsistent with the spirit of our long-standing partnership with LFP Media.
“LFP Media’s persistent refusal to engage constructively with our legitimate and reasonable concerns – including rejecting all mediation – has compelled us to take this action. The issues raised are serious and deserve to be examined. The fact that LFP Media is regularly in court against current and former broadcast partners – the main source of income for clubs – unlike any other major league in football, speaks for itself and the current perilous financial predicament.”
Despite launching its own broadcaster - Ligue 1+ - after taking over DAZN's rights earlier this year, poor relations with dominant TV platforms could hinder any attempts by the league to return to linear broadcasting or increase media rights values.
Launch of in-house broadcaster
Ligue 1+ launched mid-July at a price point of €14.99 ($17.66) per month for an annual subscription, or a non-committal monthly tier at $19.99 per month. As of September 2025, the service had 1.026 million subscribers, with 72% opting for the annual package over the rolling monthly commitment. This accounts for about €132.9 million per year from around 738,000 annual subscribers.
However, despite its early success, Ligue 1+ may need to significantly increase its subscriber base or drastically raise its subscription price to match the media rights income from even its recent unsuccessful cycles.
In contrast to LFP's struggles with media rights income and broadcaster relations, other European soccer leagues are posting record revenues. For instance, Germany's Bundesliga has been thriving financially. According to Deloitte Football Money League table data, England, Spain, Germany and Italy each have three or more clubs ranked in the top 20 globally for revenue while France’s Ligue 1 only has Paris Saint-Germain on that list - illustrating a growing financial gap between French soccer and Europe's other elite competitions.
