Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has secured the rights to the English Premier League in France, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Under the terms of the renewal, Canal Plus will carry all 380 matches each season from 2022 to 205, with coverage across the broadcaster’s television channels, the myCANAL app and the Canal Plus Premier League digital platform.
The broadcaster previously held the rights between 2013/14 and 2015/16 in a tie-up valued at around €63 million annually, before being usurped by Altice and its RMC Sport channels. However, the English top-tier returned to Canal Plus in France in 2019/20, with the current cycle expiring at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
“The Premier League is delighted to continue our outstanding partnership with Canal Plus in France and to extend our longstanding collaboration in two new markets Czech Republic and Slovakia through the M7 Group,” said Paul Molnar, the Premier League’s Chief Media Officer.
“Canal Plus has consistently delivered market-leading sports coverage and Premier League fans can look forward to more matches being made available live in these territories through to the 2024/25 season.”
However, the broadcaster has lost the rights to the English top-flight in Poland, which were acquired by the Nordic Entertainment Group earlier in the week.
Elsewhere, Telenet has retained the rights to the Premier League in Belgium, whilst LiveNow has negotiated a sublicensing arrangement with telecommunications company Singtel to offer pay-per-view match passes for one fixture per match week in Singapore.
Maxime Saada, Chief Executive of Canal Plus, added: “From the start of the new season, the Premier League will be backed by the two most beautiful games of each day of the Champions League, the most beautiful meeting of the Europa League, as well as the Top 14, Formula One and MotoGP, broadcast in full on Canal Plus.
“And for the first time, our partnership with the Premier League will extend to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, another important step in the international development strategy of the Canal Plus group, which now has more than 22 million subscribers across the world, including 14 million outside France.
The deal also marks a major coup for Canal Plus, which missed out on the rights to the French top-tier Ligue 1 to Amazon Prime Video, before threatening a blackout on its existing deal with the division.
