Opinion No. 2014-8 of May 21, 2014 to the Competition Authority on the submission of a case before the court by beIN Sports France relating to practices implemented by the Canal Plus group and the Ligue Nationale de Rugby.

Following a complaint from beIN Sports and a request for interim measures, the Competition Authority ordered the French National Rugby League (LNR) and the Canal Plus group to suspend the agreement granting the latter exclusive rights to show Top 14 championship matches for five seasons. A new competitive bidding procedure for subsequent seasons must be organized by January 31, 2015 at the latest.

The French Superior Audiovisual Council sent its observations to the Competition Authority on May 23, 2014.
In particular, it considered that the over-the-counter negotiations between the LNR and the Canal Plus group had enabled the latter, without effectively facing competitive pressure from the beIN Sports channels, to acquire all the Top 14 diffusion rights.

In his opinion, the practices complained of can be likened to de facto pre-emption, enabling the Canal Plus group to benefit from total exclusivity on particularly appealing rights, for a period of eight years.

Browse the opinion below.