2023-06-14 20:50:18
It took little for the 2023 World Cup not to be broadcast in France. The threat of the black screen dissipated this Wednesday, June 14 with the announcement of an agreement to co-broadcast the Women’s World Cup in France, on France Télévisions and the M6 group, just over a months before the start of the competition, in Australia and New Zealand (July 20 – August 20).
The two audiovisual groups take over from TF1 and Canal +, broadcasters of the Mondial-2019 at home, after an extended sequence of negotiations, hampered by the financial ambitions deemed too high by Fifa, organizer of the tournament.
The French Football Federation can breathe, its Bleues will be well on the small screen from July 23 for their entry into the running against Jamaica, in Sydney, at the end of the morning (11:30 a.m. Paris time).
“France Télévisions is very pleased to announce the acquisition with the M6 group of the broadcasting rights for the 2023 FIFA World Cup and the matches of the French women’s football team until 2027”, announced the public television group in a press release.
“Unacceptable” offers
At the same time, Fifa announced that the competition would be visible in the clear in 34 countries in Europe, including Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, the four other major European countries in women’s football. over which the threat of a blackout hovered, as in France. No financial details have been released by Fifa.
The battle for television rights raged for several months between Gianni Infantino’s Fifa, determined not to sell off its flagship women’s competition, and European broadcasters, cooled by the sums requested, far too high according to them.
At the beginning of May, the Italian leader spoke out vigorously against offers from broadcasters, particularly European ones, deemed “still very disappointing and simply unacceptable”. But, he continued, “We have a moral and legal obligation not to underestimate the value of the Women’s World Cup.”
These financial proposals were “20 to 100 times lower than those received for the World Cup” masculine. The broadcasters were pouring “between 100 and 200 million dollars” for the Men’s World Cup but were only ready to offer “1 to 10 million dollars for the Women’s World Cup”, while its audiences represent “about 50 to 60%” of the men’s tournament.
Jet lag
Several players had expressed regret, even incomprehension, as the soap opera stretched. “It’s Fifa’s business. She is the best person to talk about it. I often heard the president say that it was not enough financially. But is it really always a question of money? wondered the Norwegian star of OL, Ada Hegerberg, the first winner of the Women’s Golden Ball in 2018.
Several calls for tenders had failed, so great was the gap between the two camps. Fifa, summed up a potential broadcaster, interviewed by AFP, “ask a lot of money for something that won’t get a lot of ratings.”
This lack of enthusiasm was above all due to the geographical area of the competition, organized for the first time in Oceania, and therefore to the time difference which cooled European broadcasters. For example, the second and third matches of the French team in the group stage will start at noon, while the semi-finals and the final will be scheduled between 10 a.m. and noon, Paris time.
words and deeds
Another concern for broadcasters: the competition is held in the heart of summer, later than usual, during a low period in terms of advertising revenue. The final of Euro-2022, last summer in England, took place on July 31, three weeks earlier than the final of the World Cup to come.
“We have a good product, the finest in women’s sport. Everyone talks about equality, parity. We would like these words to turn into actions,” had rebuked the secretary general of Fifa, Fatma Samoura, on May 21 in an interview with AFP. It will have taken many more weeks to see the situation settle.
France Télévisions and the M6 group are taking a further step towards women’s football, having recently acquired the rights to broadcast the French team for the next four seasons (2023-2027). The agreement, announced on June 13, notably includes the new League of Nations, qualifications for Euro-2025 and the World Cup-2027. The matches of Les Bleues will also be broadcast by the France Télévisions group during the 2024 Olympic Games, for which they are automatically qualified as host country.
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