American football’s NFL has secured free-to-air (FTA) coverage in France after securing rights deals with L'Équipe, the FTA digital and terrestrial channel, and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions (France TV) ahead of the 2026 season.
The agreement with L'Équipe marks the return of the NFL to the channel, with the broadcaster holding rights between 2020 and 2023 before they were acquired by commercial broadcaster M6.
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Under its new deal, L'Équipe will air a regular-season match live every Sunday at 10pm local time, as well as three playoff games and the flagship season-ending Super Bowl match on the L'Équipe channel, which can be accessed via TNT and the L'Équipe website and app.
The package also includes live rights to air two NFL games being played in Europe as part of its International Games slate, including the Atlanta Falcons vs Cincinnati Bengals in Madrid, Spain (November 8) and New England Patriots vs the Detroit Lions in Munich, Germany (November 15).
However, it will only provide delayed coverage of the NFL’s first-ever game being staged in the country, in Paris, on October 25.
France TV, meanwhile, has secured a package that includes live rights to NFL Paris, which it will air on one of its linear channels and the France.TV sports streaming platform. The channel will be announced closer to the match date.
The regular-season match will see the New Orleans Saints face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Paris’ Stade de France on October 25, in the time-zone-friendly 2:30pm slot.
L'Équipe will provide delayed coverage of the game on October 25 at 9pm on the L’Équipe channel.
France TV’s sports channel will also broadcast the three regular-season matches being held in London, England, including Indianapolis Colts vs Washington Commanders (October 4), the Philadelphia Eagles vs Jacksonville Jaguars (October 11), and Jacksonville Jaguars vs the Houston Texans (October 18).
Laurent-Éric Le Lay, director of sports at France TV, said: “Broadcasting the NFL Paris Game 2026 is a fantastic opportunity for France Télévisions to offer all audiences a world-class sporting event, a first for our channels.
“It demonstrates our commitment to diversifying our programming, innovating, and creating powerful emotions, bringing all generations together for a unique event.
“We are proud to broadcast this historic moment and to open our channels to a sport that is rapidly growing in France, a dynamism further highlighted by flag football’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.”
The two deals come days after BeIN Sports, the international pay-TV heavyweight, renewed and expanded rights to the NFL in France.
Having held the NFL’s media rights in the country since 2012, BeIN’s new agreement adds another game each week to its seasonal coverage of the competition.
In past years, BeIN has broadcast the weekly 'Monday Night Football' and 'Thursday Night Football' fixtures and also shown one full Sunday night featured game live (in the 10:25pm local time slot) with French-language commentary.
BeIN has now added a second live Sunday featured game broadcast, the 7pm local time slot broadcast, as well as live coverage of NFL Paris.
The broadcaster has also retained the rights to complete coverage of the post-season playoffs, and of course the season-ending Super Bowl, which this season will take place on February 14, 2027.
The Saints are the sole holders of marketing rights for the French market (including Monaco), and in 2025 sent a player-led delegation to activate in the country, meaning the New Orleans franchise is likely to be central to a lot of NFL coverage in the market.
NFL action will begin in earnest on September 9, when the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks kick off the campaign against last season’s runners-up, the New England Patriots.
