Soon on L'Equipe, Ligue 2 accesses free-to-air TV

Ligue 2 football, whose new season starts next weekend, will be accessible for the first time in clear on TNT, the L'Equipe channel being the new broadcaster of the multiplex on Saturday evening.

Until now, to see this championship, you had to go to the stadium or subscribe to a paid channel, and only the most passionate fans therefore had access to the matches.

For L2 supporters and all viewers, this arrival in clear "it's something totally new", which will highlight the competition and its clubs, estimates with AFP Jérôme Saporito, the director of the TV division of L'Equipe.

The channel, which will offer free access to the multiplex throughout the season, as part of a partnership with Amazon, the new major broadcaster of French football, has designed its system around a single principle, he says: "the star of the multiplex, it is the multiplex”.

“We want to showcase the multiplex as a program. It's a concept invented for radio but which works very well on TV: it's the guarantee of twists, goals and the unknown at all times. It brings an additional dramaturgy”, he explains.

The channel, which will go on the air 20 to 25 minutes before the simultaneous kick-offs at 7:00 p.m. to present the teams and the stakes, will put additional resources each Saturday into a “directing match” of its choice, but “we will let ourselves carry by the truth of the multiplex” (followed by several matches at the same time) and the antenna will switch to the other stadiums according to the performance of the teams, he explains. The broadcast will end with a match report.

"A Good Marriage"

At the animation, the presenter will turn - it will be Bertrand Latour to start -, and will be associated with Régis Brouard, ex-coach of Ligue 2 clubs like Red Star. From a set, they will bring in the eight commentators in the booths.

The icing on the cake, L'Equipe will offer all 8 matches making up the multiplex for 10 weeks on its new digital platform "L'Equipe Live" and its application, with free access. Then, Amazon will broadcast them as part of its new paid offer “Prime Video Ligue 1”.

For its part, beIN Sports, which had broadcast all the matches of the previous season, keeps the two posters outside the multiplex: the match on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., and that on Monday at 8:45 p.m.

The Qatari broadcaster, which settled its first payment of the season to the Professional Football League (LFP) for the L2 a few days late, is also keeping "Maxi Ligue 2", the magazine for the 2nd division championship, scheduled before Monday night game.

For Jérôme Saporito, the partnership between L'Equipe and Amazon, the financial terms of which have not been disclosed, is "a great gift" to viewers.

“It happened quite naturally. A streaming offer and a free television offer, it's a good marriage and the two can coexist, like clear and pay”, assures the head of the TV division of the Team. With on one side, “the streaming offer for the most demanding fans”, and on the other, “the clear for Mr. or Mrs. Everybody”.