This summer, Free subscribers had to say goodbye to a channel that they knew was quite successful. Launched in 2020, Free Foot — formerly Free Ligue 1 — offered almost live extracts of Ligue 1 matches. In August, the service stopped working and a page redirecting users to channel 37 was displayed. A cessation which corresponded at the launch of Ligue 1+, subscription streaming service launched by the Professional Football League. After the DAZN ordeal, the sports organization wanted to regain total control of the broadcasting rights for its competitions.
Free did not have the opportunity to negotiate a new agreement as Thomas Reynaud explains to our colleagues atFreebox universe. According to the CEO of Illiad, “the league decided to recover the rights, we did not have the opportunity to apply for them”. The end of sport for Freebox TV subscription holders? Not really, according to the company’s recent statements.
During Free Communities Day, Free reaffirmed its desire to focus on linear sport. With the objective of bringing viewers back to TV, Free is negotiating to acquire other competitions. “We are trying to work on a certain number of rights.” The disciplines envisaged were not mentioned. Too late ?
Sport floods subscription streaming
This 2025 school year is marked by the multiplication of efforts by streaming giants to create a sports offering worthy of the name. Apart from the launch of Ligue 1+, Prime Video and Disney+ presented their new devices. In the first case, it is the NBA which takes over the shelves of the Amazon subsidiary. A notable addition for the platform which until now was content to offer third-party subscriptions. Note that Prime Video had launched a Ligue 1 Pass, charged 12.99 eurosbefore the acquisition of the rights by DAZN. Here, the NBA is offered at no extra cost with all the play-ins and almost half of the play-offs.
For its part, Disney+ takes advantage of the expertise of ESPN, an American sports channel, to broadcast the UEFA Women’s Champion League. A new system in France will allow spectators to follow all the matches of the year and the draws. This trend is part of a more general trend for the subscription streaming industry. After investing generously in the creation of series and films for their catalogs, firms are scaling back to focus on sport. Last January, Amazon’s CEO reportedly urged Prime Video to become profitable and focus heavily on sports.
It remains to be seen whether Free’s efforts in this area will put television back at the heart of the public’s concerns. Sport is now among the sectors of activity most affected by piracy, via IPTV. Legal channels will have to redouble their efforts to convince those who have turned to its illicit means to abandon them in favor of subscription streaming services or paid channels.
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