While Belgian clubs have been taking on some of Europe’s biggest names in the Champions League this season, watching domestic matches has become increasingly difficult for fans of the likes of Union Saint-Gilloise and Club Brugge.
Currently, the Belgian Pro League is exclusively broadcast by DAZN, a streaming platform which notably holds worldwide rights for the Club World Cup as well as various other European leagues. A subscription costs €35 per month, or €300 for a full year.
This season, the UK-based platform has not been able to reach an agreement with TV providers in Belgium (such as Proximus and Telenet) to sublicense the rights it holds until 2030. Only match highlights are accessible to fans who do not have the subscription, notably via a deal with RTBF signed in September.
The streaming platform, which is owned by British-American businessman Len Blavatnik, has requested a re-negotiation of the contract in light of its difficulties in reaching sublicensing deals and disappointing subscriber figures.
With an annual €84.6m on the line, the end of the DAZN contract would be a major blow to the finances of Belgian football clubs, many of whom depend on broadcast revenue. According to Le Soir, the prospect of DAZN defaulting on its November payment, and Belgian football going off the air entirely, is not entirely off the table.
The broadcast rights dispute in Belgium mirrors the situation south of the border a few months ago. Until last summer, DAZN was also the main broadcaster of France’s Ligue 1, having signed a deal which was meant to run from 2024 tuntil 2029.
The UK-based platform sought to re-negotiate the deal just months into its first season, notably citing the league's lack of action against piracy. The DAZN eventually ended after one season and, faced with the threat of financial trouble, the French clubs launched their own channel this summer. Within the first month of the campaign, it passed the one-million subscriber mark — an encouraging start, despite the impact to clubs' revenue.
If DAZN’s deal with the Belgian league also comes to a premature end, the Pro League clubs are considering a similar course of action. According to Het Niewsblad, the country’s 12 top-flight teams have looked into creating their own media company, although their priority would be for DAZN to see out its deal at least until the end of the current campaign.
The project was being considered even before the deal with the streaming platform, the Flemish outlet reported. An increasingly tense relationship between league and the streaming platform could make the long-term project a necessity sooner than expected.
"It's doable, setting up a TV channel is easier than before," explains Pierre Maes, a Belgian consultant in TV rights and former director of Canal+ Belgique. "The financial issue remains the same, though. In Belgium, this channel would have to generate income and appeal to the people who didn't want to pay DAZN, namely the telecom companies. It would be the same situation, just without the intermediary."
"For the big clubs like Club Brugge or Anderlecht, domestic broadcasting is almost insignificant as a proportion of their budget. However, if you go further down in the table, like La Louvière, that revenue can make up 70% or 80% of their total budget. If they can anticipate it by cutting wages, they won't go bankrupt. The only consequence will be a drop in quality on the pitch."
Could a league-owned channel help Belgian football sell itself abroad? "The issue is that the Belgian league doesn't really have international exposure," Maes points out. "The broadcasting rights sell at €1m abroad, which isn't bad considering the situation, but I wouldn't say that there's potential there."
A potential loss of broadcasting revenue has left Belgian clubs in an increasingly vulnerable position. A sudden breakaway from DAZN, while audacious, could soon become a necessity if the Pro League is to remain on the air.
