Due to unpaid debts from Skweek, the company holding the broadcasting rights for the French basketball championship, to the production company, a first match has already been deprived of television broadcast on Wednesday April 17.
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The broadcast of the French basketball championship on the Skweek platform stopped on Wednesday and until further notice due to unpaid bills, the newspaper L’Équipe, parent company of the production company 21 Prod present on these broadcasts, said on Thursday. matches. Wednesday evening, a first meeting was not broadcast by Skweek, Roanne-Monaco, on behalf of the 31st day of the Elite championship, due to lack of a producer. This follows unpaid debts from Skweek, owned by the Monegasque group Fedcom, controlled by Russian-Hungarian businessman Aleksej Fedoricsev.
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The production company of the L’Équipe group, 21 Prod, informed Skweek on Wednesday that it was stopping working for this platform, an internal source at the L’Équipe group told AFP. “ In each match, L’Équipe incurs a lot of costs », Explained a source within the L’Équipe group. “ The Team bears the costs of financing the production of Euroleague and Elite matches and the situation is no longer sustainable “. “ If Fedcom Media has paid the broadcasting rights correctly, the production would no longer have been paid since November », writes the sports daily on Thursday.
“ Fedcom Media has paid all broadcast rights to date », Underlined Fedcom in a press release, without however mentioning the backlogs concerning production. Asked by AFP about the amounts involved, a Fedcom spokesperson refused to give an amount. “ There are debts to honor and Skweek is in contact with the various partners to regularize the situation “, he replied.
Unless regularized by Skweek, the broadcast on this platform of the next matches, starting on Saturday, seems improbable. The most anticipated matches should be televised, however, because they are scheduled on L’Équipe, a free TNT channel, starting with Sunday’s poster, Asvel-Paris.
The Euroleague also threatened
The National Basketball League said it was looking for a solution for meetings that Skweek will not be able to broadcast. “ We regret the situation for basketball fans subscribers. We are working on several scenarios to restore the situation as quickly as possible. », Explained to AFP its president Philippe Ausseur. Fedcom says it is suffering from financial sanctions hitting certain Russian groups after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022.
There are five days left in the Elite championship, until May 11, then a month of play-offs from May 17. Skweek holds the broadcasting rights to the Elite for seven seasons (including two as an option), until 2030. The broadcasting of the Euroleague in France, normally provided by Skweek, is threatened in the same way, while the club of Monaco, also owned by Fedcom, plays the quarter-finals against Fenerbahçe from April 24.