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Sport and audiovisuel
Translations are provided as a service to Arcom users and are supplied “as is”, throught the DeepL tool. Consequently, only the text of the original version is authentic.
Sporting events are essential media events for the audiovisuel industry. They have shaped, and continue to shape, the history of TV and radio audiences. Sport has established itself as a driver of appeal for viewers on radio, television and now the Internet.
Arcom's aim is to ensure that as many people as possible have access to major sporting events and a diversity of disciplines, while respecting the investment made by channels in acquiring diffusion rights and the interests of competition organizers.
At the same time, TV channels and radio stations have a role to play and a responsibility to support sports policies, particularly in terms of public health and social cohesion.
Sports programming rules
Reruns of competition excerpts
As part of the right to information, any channel can rebroadcast free of charge extracts - summoned "brief excerpts" - from a sports competition broadcast on its airwaves, even if it does not own the rights. To do so, several conditions must be met:
- The diffusion must take place after the end of the first broadcast by the rights holder of the program from which the excerpts are taken.
- The program from which the excerpt is taken must be a news programme.
- The identity of the rights holder must be clearly identified during the diffusion of the excerpt, for a minimum duration of 5 seconds.
- The length of the excerpts is limited according to the nature of the sports competition concerned.
- Channels broadcasting short excerpts must show a minimum of 24 sporting disciplines. This minimum volume takes into account the diversity of the sports shown (men's, women's, adapted).
- The broadcast must take place after the end of the first broadcast by the service that holds the rights to the programme from which the extracts are taken.
- The programme in which the extract is used must be a news programme.
- The identity of the rights holder must be clearly identified in the broadcast of the extract for a minimum of 5 seconds.
- The length of the excerpts is limited depending on the nature of the sporting competition concerned.
- Channels broadcasting short excerpts must ensure that a minimum of 24 sports disciplines are broadcast as part of this broadcast.
- This minimum volume takes into account the diversity of the sports practised (men's, women's and adapted sports). See deliberation No. 2014-43 of 1 October 2014.
Major competitions
A number of sporting events, defined as being of "major importance", must be accessible to all viewers so as not to deprive a significant portion of the public of the opportunity to follow them.
- A pay-TV channel cannot therefore reserve exclusive rights to broadcast any of these events.
- Free-to-air national channels must be able to obtain the broadcasting rights.
- the Summer and Winter Olympic Games
- the matches of the French national football team included in the calendar of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
- the opening match, semi-finals and final of the Football World Cup
- the semi-finals and final of the European Football Championship
- the final of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup when a sports group registered in one of the French championships participates in it
- the final of the Champions League football
- the final of the French Football Cup
- the Six Nations rugby tournament
- the semi-finals and final of the Rugby World Cup
- the final of the French rugby championship
- the European Rugby Cup final when a sports group registered in one of the French championships participates in it
- the men's and women's singles finals of the French Open tennis tournament
- the semi-finals and finals of the Davis Cup and Fed Cup when the French tennis team is participating
- the French Formula 1 Grand Prix
- the Tour de France men's cycling race
- the Paris-Roubaix cycling race
- the men's and women's finals of the European Basketball Championship when the French team is participating
- the men's and women's finals of the World Basketball Championship when the French team is participating
- the men's and women's finals of the European Handball Championship when the French team is participating
- the men's and women's finals of the World Handball Championship when the French team is participating
- the World Athletics Championships.
Sports competitions not included in this list are not subject to this provision.
Understanding the sports and audiovisual ecosystem
Arcom regularly publishes analyses of the sports and audiovisual ecosystem, the place of sports-related contdnt in the audiovisual media, and cross-fertilization between the media and the sporting world.
Arcom monitors the sports supply on television and radio. It studies the number of media involved, the hourly volume, the type of programs concerned, the disciplines exposed...
In 2018, Arcom published "Audiovisuel sports-related contdnt: key figures 2018". This report presents an overview of the audio and video sports-related contdnt supply available in France and its consumption.
>> Browse the 2018 key figures for audio and video sports-related contdnt.
In 2017, Arcom studied the presence of women's sports competitions and women in sports programs on television. The role of television in the development of women's sports appears decisive.
>> Browse the report on the diffusion of women's sports on television" (December 2017)
In 2016, Arcom published "Sport et télévision - Les chiffres clés 2016". This report describes the workings and balances of the TV sports rights market and a state of the sports supply on TV and the consumption of sports programs.
>> Browse the report sport et télévision - Les chiffres clés 2016.
More and more sports are being shown on television, and are still consumed live. The value of the sports rights acquisition market has been growing for several years, as has the number of players on the market.
At the same time, the importance of non-linear consumption of audio and video content, on media other than the TV set, and the growing importance of digital platforms, point to new ways of consuming sports-related contdnt, and potential competition for TV publishers.
Arcom monitors the sports rights market:
- monitoring purchases (competitions concerned, contract periods, etc.)
- market concentration
- market value
- competition
- underlying economic challenges
- emergence of new players, etc.
It also analyzes :
- the weight of the media in the sports economy
- the importance of sports-related contdnt in the media economy.
Increasing the visibility of parasport in the broadcast media
Media coverage of parasport helps to increase the visibility of people with disabilities on television, but also to change perceptions of disability.
Improving the representation of disability and accessibility in audiovisual programmes and digital content is one of Arcom's core missions.
Arcom's work focuses on three main areas:
- Accessibility of digital programmes and content..
- Representation of disability on television.
- Professional integration of people with disabilities in companies in the audiovisual sector.
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The impact of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
Three quarters of viewers acknowledge that the 2024 Paralympic Games have changed their view of disability, a figure that rises to 79% among those under 35.
The event greatly improved the visibility of parasports, both in terms of understanding the rules (86%) and knowledge of the athletes (91%).
As a result, 52% of French people say they would watch more parasports if there were more available on television, a figure that is up 4 points from December 2023.
The "Let's Play Together" awareness campaign
Arcom's "Jouons Ensemble" (Let's Play Together) initiative encourages broadcast media, radio and television stations to give more airtime and coverage to parasports.
On Thursday, 2 October 2025, Arcom organised a progress report on the subject, attended by Martin Ajdari, President of Arcom, Laurence Pécaut-Rivolier, member of the college, the Ministers for Sport and for Autonomy and Disability, as well as representatives of the audiovisual media and associations.
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Find a suitable sports facility near you
The HandiGuide des sports is an interactive directory of sports facilities that declare themselves to be accessible or capable of accommodating disabled athletes. It informs disabled people about the sports activities available to them based on the accessibility of sports facilities near their place of residence.
To find facilities and physical and sporting activities near you that are adapted to your disability, use the Handiguide des sports (Sports Guide for People with Disabilities).
Promoting women's sport in the media
French women love sport, and the audiovisual media are increasingly catering to them. Every year, Arcom promotes the French audiovisual landscape through a media campaign.
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The "Women's Sport Forever" initiative
"Sport féminin toujours" (Women's Sport Forever) celebrates women's participation in sport and anchors women's sport in everyday life. National and local television and radio stations are adapting their programmes and covering women's sport in various formats (broadcasts, magazines, documentaries, interviews, reports) around 4 main themes:
- the development of women's participation in sport
- the presence of women in sports governing bodies
- the economics of women's sport
- media coverage of women's sport.
Combating piracy of sports broadcasts
Arcom is committed to combating sports piracy, particularly the illegal live streaming of sporting events on the internet.
The new measure, introduced into the French Sports Code, takes into account the urgency inherent in live audiovisual broadcasts of sporting events ("live streaming"), as the damage caused in such situations is instantaneous and irreversible.
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Fighting doping and protecting athletes
Since 2012, television publishers who show sports programs have been required to contribute to the fight against doping and the protection of people practicing physical and sports activities (deliberation of June 26, 2012).
Every year since 2012, Arcom has produced a report on the application of this action. These reports have established that not all publishers were complying with it, even though their number was increasing. Faced with this finding, in 2016 Arcom carried out a wide-ranging consultation with all stakeholders (representatives of the authorities, television service editors, players from the sporting world).
This consultation led to the publication ofa new deliberation on the subject in May 2017. The new scheme must achieve the best possible balance between the public health objectives pursued and the contribution capacities of audiovisual publishers. Compared with the previous deliberation, several developments should be noted:
- a more precise definition of the two themes to be addressed,
- The scope of the deliberation has been extended to include local television stations,
- the obligation to show one new program per year on the subject,
- an incentive for publishers to share the targeted content on their catch-up TV platform and relay it on their digital media.
Fight agains doping and protection of people practising physical and sports activities - Report 2022 and 2023
Arcom has published its report on the application of the deliberation of May 17, 2017 on the fight against doping and the protection of people practicing physical activities and sports, for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
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