Sport+

Sport+ is French former sports television network owned by MultiThématiques. The channel broadcasts sports (football, tennis, rugby, handball, hockey and more)

History[]

Created by the AB Groupe on December 23, 1996, this channel is named after its birth AB Sports and is part of the satellite package AB Sat before being included in the Canalsat bouquet.

The channel was sold in December 1998 to the group Pathé who then launched thematic television. It is then renamed Pathé Sport and is gaining notoriety thanks to its programming designed for the French public, with the many direct and the variety of the sports proposed.

The acquisition of Eurosport France by Groupe TF1 in early 2001 and the subsequent decision by Groupe Canal+ to launch a new sports channel in the fall of 2002 create a more competitive context in the sports rights market, which is jeopardizing the development plan. by Pathé Sport and led Pathé to sell 60% of the channel's capital in March 2002 to Groupe Canal+, the remaining 40% being sold on 26 October in exchange for 80% of the capital of Monte Carlo TMC. The operation allows the main national pay channel to recover a sports channel it has lost since Eurosport France and of which it was a shareholder, was absorbed by TF1 SA. The channel then changed its name again to become Sport+ on October 26, 2002.

This absorption by Canal+ SA has the effect of greatly reducing the partnerships of the new channel with France Télévisions. The two groups broadcast until then in codiffusion many events such as the tennis tournament of Paris-Bercy, the Championship of France of basketball (France TV then diffusing part of the play-offs while Pathé Sport diffused the regular season) or the World Handball Championship. Sport+ tends to share more and more events with the other channels of the Groupe Canal+ of which it is part, thus depriving certain sports of a broadcast in clear.

The channel was selected in 2005 to be part of DTT pay channels, but its authorization was canceled shortly thereafter.

It is also the organizer channel Sport+ à la playa, sports events offered each year on the beaches of France.

Since the arrival of beIN Sports in 2012, the chain has lost many competitions: the Wimbledon Tournament, the Masters Series tennis and ATP 1000 and 500 series, the NFL American Football Championship, the Europa League in football, the rugby Premiership, the Men's Handball Champions League and the French Men's Handball Championship, the NBA and the Euroleague Basketball as well as many cycling races including the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie.

Leaded by this new competition, the channel ceases broadcasting as of June 27, 2015