The endless battle of broadcasters for exclusive content access from top Ligue 1 clubs

The relationship between broadcasters and Ligue 1 clubs has evolved into a complex battlefield where media access remains a contentious issue. As broadcasters invest hundreds of millions in TV rights, their struggle to obtain exclusive behind-the-scenes content reveals fundamental tensions in French football’s media landscape.

In Short

The fight for exclusive access in French football

French football’s elite competition has witnessed an ongoing struggle between broadcasters and clubs over access to exclusive content. Currently, DAZN and beIN Sports collectively pay nearly €500 million for Ligue 1 broadcasting rights, yet both networks face significant resistance when attempting to capture behind-the-scenes moments. This standoff has intensified in 2025, with DAZN demanding €573 million from the LFP over the Ligue 1 TV rights dispute, citing numerous contractual breaches including insufficient access to exclusive content.

The contrast with other European leagues is stark. In Spain’s La Liga, for example, DAZN Spain cameras capture players during warm-ups and provide subscribers with locker room access minutes before kickoff. Meanwhile, French broadcasters face systematic rejection when requesting similar privileges. The Media Charter, which outlines the rights and obligations of official broadcasters, provides clubs with significant discretion over which spaces remain off-limits.

Thibault Le Rol, who presented Ligue 1 fixtures on Prime Video for three seasons until 2024, describes the situation as “crazy,” noting that “in France, the broadcaster, the main financier of the product, gets the door slammed almost naturally.” This sentiment echoes throughout the broadcasting community, where frustration continues to mount over restricted access to valuable content that could enhance viewer experience and increase engagement with predictive analytics platforms.

For broadcasters investing substantial resources in French football, these barriers represent more than mere inconvenience—they fundamentally limit the ability to create compelling narratives around matches. The resulting content gap impacts audience engagement and potentially undermines the value proposition for subscribers who increasingly expect comprehensive coverage including pre-match insights, player perspectives, and behind-the-scenes glimpses that statistics alone cannot provide.

Dressing rooms and team buses: the forbidden zones

The locker room represents the most fiercely protected space in French football. According to the Media Charter, this area remains under club control, with access determined during a meeting two hours before kickoff. Despite being standard practice in leagues like the NBA, where global superstars routinely speak to media from locker rooms, French clubs maintain strict limitations. Florent Houzot, editorial director at beIN Sports, explains, “We continue to request access every time because if we stop, clubs will say: you can’t complain if you don’t ask.”

While DAZN has occasionally managed to gain locker room access with clubs like Angers, Auxerre, Lens, Brest and Strasbourg, the biggest teams—notably PSG, OM, and OL—consistently refuse, citing the need to preserve player privacy. One communications director mentioned concerns about showing players absorbed in their smartphones, which might project an unfavorable image. However, this perspective fails to recognize what fans truly value.

Stefano Bernabino, DAZN’s editorial director, challenges this mindset: “What might seem ordinary for those who experience it weekly can be fascinating for a fan. We must acknowledge this difference in perception.” This disconnect between broadcaster expectations and club policies extends beyond locker rooms to team buses, where DAZN’s requests to install small cameras during stadium journeys have been uniformly rejected, despite not being explicitly addressed in the charter.

Clubs justify these refusals by citing player concentration needs, with one communications director claiming, “It’s not very interesting anyway. Everyone’s in their bubble, it’s very quiet, nobody jokes around.” However, when Olympique Lyonnais provides such content, it comes with significant strings attached—DAZN reportedly paid €150,000 for a partnership that includes club-filmed and vetted content for post-match distribution, an arrangement that fundamentally differs from the live access sought by broadcasters.

These restrictions create an artificial barrier between fans and the authentic football experience, limiting the potential for broadcasters to address the ongoing TV rights crisis with innovative content offerings that could potentially increase market value and fan engagement.

The international gap widens for French football

The discrepancy between media access in Ligue 1 and other major European leagues continues to grow, potentially affecting the global appeal of French football. While DAZN has noted some recent improvements, including discussions about implementing “Open VAR” segments that would reveal conversations between referees and VAR officials in delayed broadcasts (a feature already successful in Italy’s Serie A), French football remains significantly behind its competitors.

Interview access represents another battleground. The charter stipulates that each club must provide “a player for a 20-minute interview” before matches, with an obligation to do so “at least four times per season.” Houzot questions this bare minimum requirement: “Why only four times? I have 34 matches in a season and the same club up to eight times. Today, we’ve broadcast 26 fixtures, 12 of which were presented without pre-match interviews… because they were refused. Among the six clubs scheduled more than five times on beIN, two have given absolutely nothing!”

Bench interviews during matches and hallway conversations five minutes before kickoff, practices that virtually disappeared during COVID-19, have never truly returned. The situation has created noticeable content gaps compared to other top leagues, where fan engagement strategies include innovative approaches like Belgium’s “Selfiecam” that allows players to film from inside the group—concepts DAZN hasn’t even attempted to propose in France’s restrictive environment.

This widening gap has strategic implications. In Spain, clubs receive financial incentives within TV rights distribution based on their level of openness and collaboration with media. No such structure exists in France, where payment disputes have become common between broadcasters and the league. As Houzot aptly summarizes while awaiting a meeting with Ligue 1 presidents to present evidence of “the gap that separates us from major foreign championships”: “Clubs want us to tell stories, but first they must stop telling themselves stories!”

The path forward requires fundamental reconsideration of broadcaster-club dynamics in French football. Without meaningful change to the Media Charter and club attitudes toward content access, Ligue 1 risks falling further behind competing leagues in media innovation, fan engagement, and ultimately, global market value.