‘Two difficult years ahead’ – LFP Media chief on ‘affordable’ In-house Ligue 1 streaming platform | OneFootball

After years of turbulence in the domestic rights market, French football is going it alone. From next season, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) will roll out its own digital platform to broadcast eight Ligue 1 matches live per weekend (the ninth will remain on beIN Sports, albeit on a delayed basis). The ambitious decision comes after the failure to secure a satisfactory broadcasting deal in recent months.

In an interview with L’Équipe, Nicolas De Tavernost – the LFP’s newly appointed commercial director and former M6 chief – laid out the first details of the project. Despite admitting to a likely two-year struggle to reach profitability, he’s banking on a “quality product”, a competitive price point, and strong editorial choices to attract fans.“We’d be disappointed with less than a million subscribers in the first year,” De Tavernost revealed, adding, “We’ll put the resources in place to have a high-quality offering. This won’t be a low-cost product.”As for the on-air talent, De Tavernost confirmed the hiring of Xavier Domergue, formerly of M6, as one of the channel’s lead commentators. He hinted that more presenters and pundits of similar calibre will be announced on July 10, with the LFP currently finalising its editorial lineup.

The final choice of production partner is still pending, with 21 Production (a subsidiary of L’Équipe) and Mediawan the two contenders.

Despite the uncertainty around launch and potential subscriber uptake, De Tavernost remains bullish:

“We’ll try to make this project as innovative and popular as possible. Ligue 1 is a strong product.”GFFN | George Boxall