French league facing uncertain future amid main broadcaster's financial woes / News - Basketnews.com

SKWEEK, the broadcaster of all French league matches, is facing financial problems, which might soon take a toll on all participating clubs.

Credit: Bertrand GUAY / AFP Credit Bertrand GUAY / AFP

Having purchased the broadcasting rights to the French league until 2030, SKWEEK is experiencing financial difficulties with unpaid amounts of several million euros on production costs.

Points this season

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According to Le Parisien, the deal was signed last June between the LNB, the L'Equipe channel and the SKWEEK digital platform and is valid for 7 years at a cost of €2.5 million per season. SKWEEK, the broadcaster of all Betclic Elite matches via its OTT platform, seems to be facing financial problems, which amount to a deficit of €2-3 million.

"The situation is worrying but it is not dramatic or lethal," the French league's president Philippe Ausseur, recently told Le Parisien. "Unlike other sports, the (financial) balance of the League and our clubs does not depend on the TV contract, but we regret if this has a consequence on the visibility of our sport," he added.

If the broadcast of the Game of The Week on Sunday at 19:00 on the L'Equipe channel - whose average audience is estimated at around 300,000 viewers, with a peak at 500,000- does not seem to be in question, the situation is more problematic for the rest of the matches. Representatives of L'Equipe group assure that they don't wish for the brodcasting to stop, but add that the project might not be financially sustainable due to the high production costs.

Skweek belongs to FedCom Media, a branch of the multinational FedCom company, which belongs to Aleksey Fedorychev. Born in Russia, the businessman has a Hungarian and Monegasque passport and has been living in Monaco for 30 years. A sports fan, he has long been the main sponsor of the AS Monaco football club (via FedCom) before becoming interested in basketball and making Monaco a French and European powerhouse. This season, the club's budget is €27 million.

In recent months, SKWEEK has acquired the broadcast rights to the LFB, the Women's EuroLeague, the EuroCup, the Coupe de France and 3x3, while being the number one financial supporter of AS Monaco and ASVEL. As the jersey sponsor of ASVEL, the broadcaster pays nearly€7 million euros per year to Tony Parker's club. Discussions went as far as a joint purchase of the LDLC Arena, currently owned by Olympique Lyonnais.

In a press release, SKWEEK clarified that there are currently two contracts that bind the network to the L'Equipe group. The first is the sub-licensing agreement, for which L'Equipe transfers the rights to broadcast the entire French league to SKWEEK. The second is a production contract in which SKWEEK entrusts the production and realization of the meetings to 21 Production, a subsidiary of L'Equipe.

Meetings are planned in the coming days to avoid the black screen that would jeopardise the league's future.

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