L’Equipe, the French free-to-air digital terrestrial channel, has acquired rights to show domestic soccer’s second-tier Ligue 2 next season after striking a deal with Amazon Prime Video, the streaming giant that holds rights to the league.
Under a sub-licensing agreement, L’Equipe will co-broadcast one match per week every Saturday next season.
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The channel’s coverage will begin on July 30 when it will show Metz vs. Amiens on the opening day of the upcoming 2022-23 campaign.
Amazon holds rights to eight of the 10 weekly Ligue 2 matches and shows the same number of games in the top-flight Ligue 1 as part of its agreement with the LFP national soccer body, which runs until 2024.
The online retail giant has announced it will introduce 'multiplex' coverage of the French second tier, via which it will show the best moments from multiple games taking place simultaneously.
Last season, the multiplex offering was shown free-to-air by L’Equipe.
BeIN Sports, the pay-TV broadcaster, has rights to the other two Ligue 2 matches each week in France.
Amazon has also announced a new pricing structure for subscribers to watch Ligue 1 on the Prime Video service.
The company will introduce a Ligue 1 pass for €99 ($100) for the entire season, while a reduced price of €89 will be on offer for a limited period between July 11 and August 28. This offer is only available to subscribers of the Amazon Prime service.
Until now, a subscription to the Ligue 1 Pass was offered at a price of €12.99 per month.
According to L’Equipe, Amazon is also in talks with French commercial broadcaster TF1 to show Ligue 2 in its long-running Téléfoot highlights show.
