Resumen de France: Competition authority suspends agreement allocating exclusive broadcasting rights for French rugby championship matches to canal plus
By a decision on 30 July 2014, the Competition Authority suspended the agreement between the national rugby league (Ligue Nationale de Rugby � LNR) and Groupe Canal Plus, which allocated exclusive broadcasting rights to the group for the matches in the French first division rugby championship (�Top 14�) for five seasons, from 2014 to 2018. In December 2013, at the end of fruitless private negotiations with Canal Plus on upgrading television rights for the Top 14, the LNR decided on the early termination on the contract between it and Canal Plus, and announced the start of a tendering procedure for the broadcasting rights for the four seasons thereafter (2014/2015 to 2017/2018). Canal Plus reacted by referring the matter to the regional court in Paris under the urgent procedure, calling for the tendering procedure to be cancelled. Without waiting for the court�s decision, the LNR then interrupted the tendering procedure and on 14 January 2014, after private negotiations, attributed to Canal Plus total exclusivity for five seasons (2014 to 2019).
