Sport en France is a French free-to-air sports television channel. It was launched in 2019 and is headquartered in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the Parisian area, located from its Kilometre zero, centre. It is a Subprefectures in ...

, near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 2020, the channel signed on a content exchange program with

France Televisions France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

Sport en France was originally commissioned by the

French National Olympic and Sports Committee The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (french: Comité national olympique et sportif français, CNOSF) is the National Olympic Committee of France. It is responsible for France's participation in the Olympic Games, as well as for all ...

to provide a national television platform for amateur olympic sports.

Reworld Media Reworld Media is a French Media conglomerate created in 2012 by Pascal Chevalier. The group became in 2019 the first group for the number of press titles. The way the group operates is criticized by many journalists, who consider that the activ ...

, best known for publishing the local versions of magazines Closer and

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...

, won the tender to produce the channel's content. However, coinciding with Sport en France's launch window, a significant consolidation of the French sports television landscape led to the channel obtaining rights to several professional sports properties, somewhat altering its mission statement and boosting its profile. In 2019, the

Ligue Butagaz Énergie The Catholic League of France (french: Ligue catholique), sometimes referred to by contemporary (and modern) Catholics as the Holy League (), was a major participant in the French Wars of Religion. The League, founded and led by Henry I, Duke of ...

(the national women's

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

league) was rebuffed by outgoing broadcaster

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

in its demand that production costs associated with its no-rights-fee deal be covered by the channel rather than by the league, despite the fact that beIN was ramping up its production effort for the men's counterpart, the Lidl Starligue, to the full 182-game schedule. As a result, the Ligue Butagaz Energie became the first professional league to sign with Sport en France. In 2018, as part of a strategic realignment towards soccer,

La Chaîne L'Équipe LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

chose not to renew its modest rights-fee deal with the Ligue Nationale de Volley, leaving club volleyball without national television for the entire 2018-19 campaign, as well as the first half of 2019-20. In early 2020, the LNV ceded its rights to Sport en France. The channel has also broadcast the

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tot ...

since the 2019-20 season (in co-presentation with

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

). In 2020, Altice did not renew its €10 million-a-year domestic basketball broadcasting agreement, instead refocusing its ailing

RMC Sport Radio Monte Carlo (RMC) is the name of radio stations owned and managed by several different entities: *RMC (France) is a French-speaking station, broadcasting in France and Monaco owned by NextRadioTV. **RMC Sport, a French bouquet of paid TV ...

channels on their top subscription-driving content such as European soccer. This forced the

Ligue Nationale de Basket The Ligue nationale de basket (LNB; English: National Basketball League) is the governing body of men's professional club basketball in France. The LNB organises the first-tier Pro A and the second-tier Pro B. Additionally, the federation annu ...

to take a no-rights-fee deal with La Chaîne L'Équipe for its main package of games. Since the Jeep Elite was in effect giving those fixtures away for free to maintain television exposure, it opted to give another slate of games to Sport en France so as to maximize coverage. The channel also received rights to the Pro B and EuroLeague Women.

On-demand app

In May 2021, Sport en France launched its

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

app. The 2021

French rugby league championship The French rugby league championship (french: Le Championnat de France de Rugby à XIII) has been the major rugby league tournament for semi-professional and professional clubs in France since the sport was introduced to the country in the 1930s. ...

final was shown live on the app, with the linear TV broadcast exclusive to select channels of the

Vià Vià (stylised as vià) is a French television network. It started as a southern regional network in 2010, before going national in 2018, and subsequently contracting again due to economic problems. History Origins When its national network Ant ...

network.

Programming

Basketball

Ligue Féminine de Basketball The Ligue Féminine de Basketball (LFB; ''Women's Basketball League'') is the top women's French professional basketball league. Champions * precedes the score of the team playing at home. Clubs Current season (2021–22) * Union Féminine ...

(2022–) * EuroLeague Women (2020–present) and

EuroCup Women The EuroCup Women (officially ''FIBA EuroCup Women'') is the second-level basketball competition with teams from associate members of FIBA Europe. It succeeds the Ronchetti Cup. System of competition As for the EuroLeague Women, the EuroCup had ...

(2022–present; per event basis) * EuroBasket Women Qualifiers (2021–22)

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

(2019–present)

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

* Synerglace Ligue Magnus (2020–present) and Division 1 (2021–present; finals only) * Olympic Qualifying Tournament (2021)

Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

MMA Grand Prix MMA Grand Prix, often abbreviated MMA GP, is a professional mixed martial arts promotion based in Vitry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, France. History MMA Grand Prix was created in 2020, upon the legalization of MMA's internationally accepted rules (w ...

(2022–present)

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

Élite 1 Élite 1 (since 2018, and previously Top 8 from 2015 to 2018) is the top national league for women's rugby union clubs in France. It was founded from the 1971–1972 season under the aegis of the French Women's Rugby Association before being taken ...

(2020–present) *

Super League Europe The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

(2021–present; tape-delayed) *

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

(

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

)

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

* Rugby Europe Sevens Olympic Qualifying Tournament (2019)

Volleyball

LNV Ligue A Masculine LNV Ligue A Masculine (LAM) is the top men's volleyball league in France, established in 1938. It is governed by the Ligue Nationale de Volley (LNV), an independent body that runs French professional volleyball under delegation from the French ...

and Ligue A Féminine (2020–present) * Men's and

Women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

CEV Champions League (2019–present), lower-tier CEV club competitions (2020–present; per event basis) * CEV Women's European Volleyball League (2021–present)

Former programming

Basketball

* Betclic Élite and

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the French basketball league system, 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since t ...

(2020–22)

References

External links

Official websiteSport en France on TwitterReworld Media
{{French television stations Television stations in France French-language television stations Sports television networks in France 2019 establishments in France Television channels and stations established in 2019

History

On-demand app

Programming

Basketball

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

Volleyball

Former programming

Basketball

See also

References

External links