E-commerce giant Amazon’s Prime Video OTT service has expanded its live sports portfolio in the UK by offering matches from French soccer’s top-tier Ligue 1 on a pay-per-view (PPV) basis.
The deal will see up to three Ligue 1 games per weekend become available on Prime Video's marketplace, starting from this weekend’s match between AJ Auxerre and Olympique de Marseille.
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The cost for UK fans will be £2.49 ($3.14) per game, with no requirement to sign up for Amazon Prime membership.
Amazon previously had a direct relationship with the LFP, serving as a domestic broadcaster of Ligue 1 in recent seasons.
The new offering adds to Amazon Prime’s live sports portfolio in the UK, including Europe's top-tier UEFA Champions League, which it shares with pay-TV broadcaster TNT Sports, as well as 20 live games each year from the English Premier League.
Ligue 1 matches for the 2024-25 season have only been available in the UK and Ireland via the new Ligue 1 Pass Service, the in-house platform launched by the LFP after it failed to secure a regional broadcast partner ahead of the season.
The Ligue 1 Pass subscription costs £9.99 a month or £79.99 per year.
UK commercial broadcaster ITV, meanwhile, holds the rights to air a weekly Ligue 1 highlights show for the 2024-25 season.
During the last rights cycle, TNT Sports held Ligue 1 rights. However, following the departure of French superstar Kylian Mbappe (formerly of Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain) to Spanish giants Real Madrid, interest in the property has declined.
Martin Aurenche, chief media officer at LFP Media, said: “We are delighted to finalize this landmark agreement with Prime Video and to extend our successful collaboration to another territory.
“Ligue 1 fans in the UK will benefit from Prime Video’s extensive reach, with matches made available in a highly innovative way. This marks another step forward in our pursuit of new business models, following the successful launch of our direct-to-consumer platform, Ligue 1 Pass, in the UK a few months ago.”
The new partnership comes as the LFP continues its domestic rights battle with international sports streaming service DAZN.
The latest twist has seen the LFP withdraw funds from its cash reserves to pay clubs in Ligue 1 to make up the shortfall after DAZN refused to pay its rights fees.
DAZN, which picked up Ligue 1 rights in a highly contentious bidding saga in mid-2024, only paid €35 million ($36.5 million) of its expected €70 million rights fee. The other €35 million has been frozen in escrow by DAZN.
The issue has entered legal proceedings at the Paris Economic Activates Court, with a decision expected by the end of the week.
Ligue 1 action is currently shown domestically by both DAZN (eight matches per game week) and BeIN Sports (one game), through a deal that began at the start of this season.
The agreements are worth around $550 million annually, with DAZN paying the vast majority.
