French-Qatari pay-TV broadcaster BeIN Sports has finally paid the first installment of its rights fee for the 2024-25 season of French Soccer’s top-flight Ligue 1, after a protracted delay.

BeIN paid French soccer’s LFP governing body an installment of close to €20 million ($21.6 million) on Thursday (October 24) that had been delayed since August.

The delay meant that the first payments from the LFP to the Ligue 1 clubs in August were reduced by 24% as a result of BeIN not paying its share.

While that payment has now been secured, the second installment of rights and sponsorship payments (amounting to €98.5 million annually), which was due to be paid earlier in October, has now also been delayed.

According to reports from France, this latest delay was caused due to the non-signing of contracts after BeIN attempted to insert clauses that would allow it to co-broadcast matches with other pay-TV channels, a facet not agreed upon in the initial rights negotiations.

Such delays are not a new development with BeIN, as the Qatar-based operator was also late in paying a €38 million rights fee at the end of last season.

At that time, the broadcasting giant cited Ramadan as the reason for the delayed payment.

BeIN has also reportedly not paid UEFA its rights fee for the 2024 European Championship. 

This season, BeIN holds rights to show one Ligue 1 match per week and the entirety of the second-tier Ligue 2. It will pay a total of €78.5 million per year for the top-flight and €40 million for the second division.

Despite the repeated delays, Ligue 1 has little bargaining power to do anything about it and it likely agreed to the broadcaster’s stipulations as BeIN was one of the only companies that bid for the Ligue 1 rights in a media rights sales period earlier this year that was controversial and damaging for the LFP.

The LFP tanked its own broadcast rights outlook by overestimating the value of its package, burnt a bridge with one of its primary broadcasters Canal Plus, and almost bankrupted several clubs such was the effect of the delayed tender results.