The National Basketball League (LNB), with a new broadcast contract, wants to establish itself as “the benchmark league in Europe” and is delighted to finally be able to strengthen the visibility of the Betclic Elite, which resumes this Saturday. This contract, signed with the television channel L’Equipe and the streaming platform Skweek until 2030, allows the LNB to see further, after years without a sustainable and economically attractive broadcaster. “We dreamed of quality television exposure for French basketball,” analyzes Philippe Ausseur, the new president of the league elected in June. “With this new contract, we have the ambition to become the benchmark league in Europe.”
The L’Equipe channel will offer a regular season match every Sunday at the end of the afternoon. It will also broadcast ten play-off matches – including the finals -, three of the Leaders Cup (February 16 to 18, 2024) as well as the All-Star Game (December 30, 2023). “Basketball is entering this realm of great sport. For the first time in the history (of the championship, Editor’s note), the matches will be produced and broadcast with superior quality,” analyzes Fabrice Jouhaud, director of the LNB. “The (new) programming resembles what is traditionally reserved for football or rugby.”
Skweek, an OTT platform launched in October 2022 by Fedcom, the group founded by Aleksej Ferdoricsev, owner of the Monaco basketball club, will broadcast all of the regular season matches of Betclic Elite, the playoffs, finals, and the Leaders Cup, and the All-Star Game. The platform also announced that Tony Parker, president of Villeurbanne, would host a weekly show at his home with his friends, the “Skweek Show by Tony Parker”, to discuss “basketball, sport, but also cinema, music, social debates”.
The president of the LNB said he was “very happy with this long-term commitment, which will allow clubs to continue their development and professional basketball to shine even more by increasing its exposure.” “We are at a pivotal moment. We have to be there” while taking advantage of this new exhibition, he explains.
TV rights, amounting to approximately 1.3 million euros for the 2023/2024 financial year, are expected to potentially increase to gradually reach “up to three million euros” in 2030. “We are delighted (of this new broadcast, Editor’s note), but we do not want to build the economy of French professional basketball solely on TV rights,” specifies Philippe Ausseur. “It is essential that the league and the clubs find other sources of income,” citing ticketing revenue as an example.
But this exhibition allows us to see further for the French championship, still partly broadcast last year on beIN Sports and on the regional antennas of France 3, which will broadcast this year certain posters from Pro B (2nd division).
