The exclusive jurisdiction of the League is confirmed in articles L.333-2 and R 333-2 of the Sports Code, in addition to the Application Decree No. 2004-699, of July 15, 2004, which considerably modernizes the procedures of commercialization of rights and sets the strict rules to which sales are subject to the common law of competition. For its part, section 2 of article R. 333-2 of the Sports Code states that “the rights are offered in several different lots, the number and constitution of which must take into account the objective characteristics of the markets on which it has been proposed the purchase”. Article R-333-3, in its first section of the Sports Code, also provides that “the marketing by the League of the rights mentioned in the first section of article R 333-2,
In the case of football, and in application of article L333-1 of the Code du Sport , all broadcasting rights revert to the clubs of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, except for two small items, one of them, the rate ‘Buffet’ of 5 percent. The Football League is nothing more than a representative at the service of the clubs; even more, the Decree of July 15, 2004 provides for the possibility of direct sale by the clubs of those rights that have not been marketed by it. The distribution of income is made in accordance with the 2002 Charter of the rights of French professional football clubs, signed on January 28, 2002. Thus, 50 percent is distributed as a fixed and equal part for all clubs; 25 percent based on season rating, 5 percent based on last five seasons rating, and 20 percent based on televised games.
The acquisition of retransmission rights is not carried out in a grouped manner
But in the form of lots, which allows the opening of the market to competing operators? And under the supervision of the Competition Commission, each lot is awarded to the candidate whose offer is the most favorable and with a difference of at least 5 percent from the next. In addition, and in order to ensure the independence of each lot, section 4 specifies that the League must reject proposals for global or coupled offers, and although a single operator could exclusively hold the rights, the Competition Commission has opposed to this hypothesis, due to the restrictive effects it could have on competition 5 .
The immediate translation of this policy is that the sale of 무료스포츠중계 rights to the French league, as sports economists Bourg and Gouguet (2001) point out, reaches increasingly higher amounts. From 0.8 million Euros in the 1983-1984 season -before the creation of Canal+ and the privatization of TF1- to 134 million in the 1999-2000 season; 375 million in 2003-2004 and more than 600 million Euros today. And furthermore, the division of these diffusions into 12 different batches has opened a large number of ‘windows’ and put an end to the notion of ‘exclusivity’ of yesteryear.
The British model
The Premier League (PL), one of the most successful football competitions in the world, has reached more than 600 million viewers, distributed in more than 200 countries on five continents. Its matches are broadcast in twenty different languages and its internationalization capacity increases year after year.
The economic success of the Premier is undeniable. It is the European league that obtains the most domestic income from football broadcasting, ahead of the other four major leagues. Its valuation outside the United Kingdom is estimated at 625 million pounds and forecasts predict in the near future that said valuation could rise to 1,700 million pounds, as the consulting firm Deloitte already pointed out in 2006.
