TV channel Canal Plus has ended its contract with the French Professional League (LFP) after prime minister Edouard Philippe said the 2019-2020 season would not resume amid the COVID-19 crisis, French sports daily L'Equipe reported on Thursday.
L'Equipe said Canal Plus, which with BeIN Sport own the rights to broadcast Ligue 1 games until the end of the season, had already warned the LFP it would cease its payments if the season was abandoned.
Canal Plus, which was still due to pay the LFP 110 million euros (95.62 million pounds), and BeIN Sport, bought the Ligue 1 broadcasting rights from 2016-20 for 762 million euros.
L'Equipe said Canal Plus had written to LFP to inform it of its decision, but did not give details on how it obtained the information.
Canal Plus declined to comment. The LFP was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Mark Potter)
