Going beyond the surface of the Ligue 1 DTC Apps

A technical/product deep-dive into the production tender, platform build, and make-or-break timeline that has the football world watching

Why I wrote this

Cut through the noise: Since the Ligue 1 board’s 1 July vote to dump outside broadcasters, feeds have been jammed with hot-takes—mostly guessing how many subscribers it will take to keep the clubs afloat. I’m parking the revenue debate for another day.

This piece sticks to what fans will actually see on 15 August: who’s producing the pictures, which tech stack pushes them to screens, and how much of it is proven versus held together by hope and NDAs. Everything comes from public documents and a few off-record chats; when I have to infer, I flag it.

We’ll know a lot more after the league’s full tech reveal on 10 July. Until then, here’s the clearest picture I can stitch together—fact first, speculation second.

If you see anything wrong let me know.

This what you will get:

• Ligue 1 going DTC: Overview of the league's decision to launch its own streaming service

• LFP Media: Background on how the commercial subsidiary was created with CVC Capital Partners' €1.5bn investment

• Nicolas de Tavernost: Profile of the former M6 boss appointed as CEO to lead the streaming project launch

• Who's building it: Breakdown of project ownership (LFP Media), production, and DTC Apps tech partners

• Production Tender: Timeline and details of the contract bidding process

• The two contenders: Head-to-head comparison

• DTC Apps: Speculation on how they will deliver the streaming apps

• Ligue 1 Pass TV for the UK: Details of the existing UK/Ireland streaming service that may serve as the template for the French launch

• Timeline: Chronological list of key dates from DAZN deal collapse to August 15 launch deadline

Ligue 1 going DTC

What was announced?

• The French Professional Football League (LFP) has voted to ditch outside broadcasters and launch its own direct-to-consumer streaming channel for the 2025-26 season. The service will carry eight of the nine Ligue 1 matches each weekend; Qatar-owned beIN Sports keeps the Saturday 5 p.m. kick-off through 2026.

• Launch timetable: App and smart-TV distribution are promised for 15 August 2025, the league's opening weekend. A full commercial presentation is scheduled for 10 July 2025.

• Price point: The introductory retail price is €14.99 per month (and maybe a 999 for <26yrs old). To see every match fans will still need a beIN subscription, taking the "all-in" outlay to roughly €29.99/month.

• Revenue goals & targets: LFP Media director Nicolas de Tavernost told L'Équipe the league needs "at least a million" subscribers in year one; independent calculations suggest ≈2 million full-season subs would be required to match the collapsed €400 m/yr DAZN deal.

Why did the league take this route?

1. DAZN walked away. The €400 m domestic package struck in 2024 unraveled after payment disputes and piracy complaints, leaving a rights black hole and only weeks to find a new carrier.

2. Canal+ said "non". France's long-time pay-TV giant offered about €100 m/yr to act as distribution partner—half of what the LFP wanted—then exited talks on 1 July.

3. Boardroom impatience. Club presidents and CVC Capital Partners (the league's private-equity backer) judged that building an in-house platform, though risky, gave the best shot at closing the revenue gap with Europe's "Big 4" leagues.

Early commentary & reaction

• Inside World Football column: "The move recaptures lost revenue and trust but piles production, marketing and customer-acquisition risk on a league already under financial strain."

• Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada: Called LFP's price expectations "not right" and warned the project is "extremely adventurous three-and-a-half months before kick-off."

• Marketing-tech outlet PPC Land: Notes the €14.99 tag is the cheapest full Ligue 1 access ever—but without bundled entertainment, retention between seasons is a challenge.

• Fan sentiment (Reddit /r/soccer): Supporters see a bold experiment; one calculates 2.25 m annual subs needed to hit old DAZN money and doubts it will "put the €1 bn dream to bed."

Big picture

• First of its kind in Europe: No top-five football league has ever taken full domestic production and retail in-house. Success would strengthen every club's balance sheet; failure could deepen Ligue 1's funding gap.

• Distribution still open: The LFP needs at least one heavyweight platform (Amazon, Orange, Apple, even a reconciled DAZN) for reach—otherwise the service lives purely inside its own app ecosystem. Negotiations are ongoing.

• Watch the 10 July press event: expect details on production partners, anti-piracy tech, international rights re-sale—and first hints at subscriber incentives (student tiers, annual passes, bundles with mobile operators).

LFP Media

LFP Media – how it came to be and what it was trying to fix

• Oct–Dec 2020: The Mediapro/Téléfoot experiment implodes: the Spanish agency misses two rights payments, then walks away after paying a €100 m exit fee. Ligue 1 suddenly loses the bulk of its domestic TV income mid-season.

• Oct 2021 → Mar 2022: Faced with bruised club finances and a shaky rights market, the league canvasses investors and lands on a private-equity solution. On 4 Apr 2022 the General Assembly creates a ring-fenced commercial subsidiary and accepts €1.5 bn from CVC Capital Partners for a 13 % stake, valuing the new arm at €11.5 bn.

• Jan 2023: Former Six Nations and NBA Europe chief Ben Morel is hired as the first CEO. His brief: build brand, grow digital revenue and push domestic rights back towards the €1 bn dream.

• Oct 2023: The planned 2024-29 rights auction flops—no bid clears the reserve price—forcing LFP Media into back-room talks with would-be broadcasters.

• Jul 2024: A compromise emerges: DAZN accepts eight matches per round and promises €400 m a season. BeIN keeps the marquee Saturday 5 p.m. slot. Clubs swallow the discount, hoping digital add-ons will close the gap.

• Nov 2024 & Feb 2025: Morel announces his resignation (effective Feb 2025). In April the board taps 74-year-old media veteran Nicolas de Tavernost to steady the ship.

LFP Media remit

In one sentence LFP Media is the league's commercial engine – it handles every money-making activity around French professional football, while the parent LFP keeps the purely sporting chores.

The concrete remit of LFP Media

• Commercialise all media rights: Negotiates, sells and now – via its new DTC channel – distributes domestic & international broadcast/streaming rights for Ligue 1, Ligue 2, the eLigue 1 and the Trophée des Champions.

• Run the direct-to-consumer platform: Builds and operates the new Ligue 1 OTT service (apps, website, smart-TV roll-outs, customer billing, anti-piracy) that launches on 15 August 2025.

• Maximise sponsorship & licensing income: Centralises league-wide sponsors (Uber Eats, BKT, EA Sports, etc.), sells kit/merch licences and negotiates commercial inventory at matches.

• Exploit new digital assets: Oversees NFTs, metaverse activations, data partnerships and the whole eSports programme (eLigue 1 tournaments).

• Promote the Ligue brand worldwide: Runs global marketing campaigns, PR, influencer work and manages foreign-language socials & website editions.

• Collect & redistribute commercial revenue: Takes in rights/sponsorship cash, pays CVC's 13 % dividend, then transfers the remainder to the LFP for club distribution and to cover league operating costs.

Nicolas de Tavernost

Nicolas de Tavernost—long-time boss of the M6 television group and former board chair of Girondins de Bordeaux—is the director general (CEO) of LFP Media, the new commercial arm running Ligue 1's in-house channel. He was formally appointed on 23 April 2025 by the company's supervisory committee.

How the leadership stack now looks

• Director General / CEO, LFP Media - Nicolas de Tavernost: Operational head: builds the streaming platform, signs production & tech contracts, meets revenue targets.

• President, Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) & Chair of LFP Media Supervisory Committee - Vincent Labrune: Provides political cover, sets overall strategy, and represents clubs in the boardroom.

• CVC Capital Partners representative on the Supervisory Committee - Édouard Conques: Protects the private-equity fund's 13 % stake and pushes for growth milestones.

(Other C-suite hires—CFO, CTO, CMO—have not yet been made public; the league says they'll be unveiled at the 10 July launch briefing.)

Why Tavernost?

• Deep media chops: 37 years steering M6 gave him production, advertising and D2C experience the league lacked.

• Football credibility: Oversaw Bordeaux's most successful modern spell (Ligue 1 title 2009).

• Crisis firefighter: Brought in precisely because broadcasters walked away—his brief is to monetise the rights himself and steady club finances.

That makes Nicolas de Tavernost the face and decision-maker for LFP Media's Ligue 1 project.

Who’s building it

Who's actually putting the channel together?

• Project owner: 100 % owned and steered by LFP Media, the commercial arm of the French league. Nicolas de Tavernost (ex-M6) is the day-to-day boss.

• Live-match production: Still to be awarded. LFP Media ran a fast-track tender in June. Two bidders are left: Mediawan (the pan-European studio founded by Xavier Niel) and 21 Production (the production arm of L'Équipe). A decision is expected before the 10 July press reveal.

• Signal distribution in France: Open to multiple partners. Canal+ wanted to run the channel but was relegated to a simple distributor's role – the same status being offered to Amazon Prime, Orange, Free, DAZN, etc.

• Streaming/OTT tech stack: Not publicly disclosed. The league says the platform will be "cloud-native" and "multi-device" at launch; contracts for the back-end (CDN, CMS, payment gateway, anti-piracy) have been negotiated in parallel but the suppliers have not yet been named.

In plain words

• LFP Media owns the project – no outside broadcaster is "in charge."

• The TV production contract is the only big piece still on the table, with Mediawan and 21 Production fighting it out.

• Canal+ and the other big platforms can carry the feed once it exists, but they won't run or produce it.

• Everything else (apps, payments, cloud hosting) is being stitched together under NDA; the league says it will publish the full supplier list at its 10 July launch event.

Production Tender

Ligue 1 Production Tender — the nuts & bolts