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Doubled VAT on Canal+: Maxime Saada warns over funding of French sport
In an interview on RTL, the Canal+ chief puts the cost of the doubled VAT at €200m a year and warns over the funding of French sport.
by Lucas Morel · 1 min read
The head of Canal+ used a Monday morning interview on RTL to push one number: the 2027 finance bill raises VAT on pay-TV channels from 10 to 20 per cent. The group puts the extra cost at €200m a year. “This is an unreasoned political decision, an absurd one that makes no economic sense,” said Maxime Saada.
The warning targets the group’s spending on sport and cinema: “Who is going to step in for Canal+ to fund sport and cinema? You saw what Ligue 1 looked like when Canal+ was not there to fund it?” Canal+ walked away from Ligue 1’s rights auction in 2024.
The leading funder of French sport
Canal+ shows the Top 14 and Pro D2 until 2032, rights bought for €139.4m a season, along with the Champions League and the Première Ligue. “We are the leading funder of French sport, with the Top 14, the Champions League and the Première Ligue,” Saada said, putting at 70 per cent the share of professional rugby’s income that came from the rights paid by Canal+. Alongside lower investment, the group plans a subscription rise of around 10 per cent, not before 2028, and has not ruled out redundancies.
A cut in spending, not a walkout
Saada described a reduction without putting a figure on it: RMC Sport and Foot Mercato headlines talk of stopping investment altogether, his words stop short of that. The VAT doubling, presented by the government last Thursday, still has to clear parliament, where amendments have already been tabled. The final rate will be settled in the National Assembly in the coming weeks.