The Market Signal: AMC Networks, Ligue 1 and the Wholesale Future of Niche Content
When managing churn and piracy become too costly, content owners seek multiple distribution partners
The Medium identifies essential signals on how technology is shaping the business of culture, and how the marketplace is evolving in response.
The Market Signal
In my presentation to PARQOR Platinum members, I noted one of the key questions in today’s market is, “How are D2C funnels redirecting capital flows?”
Last week, we got two similar answers to that question from two different parts of the media marketplace. One answer from the U.S. was from AMC Networks CEO Kristen Dolan, who told The Paley Center for Media last Tuesday: “I know we could never get to 100% wholesale, but if we could, I would do it.” The rationale was simple: Letting others manage churn (or the percentage of customers who cancel their service) is “is better” for AMC’s portfolio of niche content services “than someone having a bad experience.”
The second was from the Professional Football League (LFP) in France or “Ligue 1”, which agreed to terminate their current deal (8 out of 9 Ligue 1 matches per matchday, for an average annual amount of €375 million until 2029, with the final match being on beIN Sports) at the end of the season. Instead, Ligue 1 aims to launch its own “100% Ligue 1 channel”.
The FT reported, “DAZN last year agreed to pay about €400mn a year for the rights to show the majority of Ligue 1 matches from 2024 to 2029. But subscriber numbers have not met its expectations, losses were piling up and the broadcaster argued that the league was not doing enough to tackle piracy.”
Why It Matters
At first glance, these seem like two different stories on two different continents: AMC Networks seems to be relying increasingly third party distributors for streaming while Ligue 1 seems to be eliminating its reliance on third parties altogether.
However, outside of France Ligue 1 is a “niche” offering—in the U.S., it draws only 17,000 according to data from Nielsen. Within Europe, it is perceived as a “one team” league, with Paris Saint-Germain winning 10 out of the past 12 titles.
If the Ligue 1 launches its own “100% Ligue 1 channel”, the best model would be to pursue Dolan’s “100% wholesale” approach. By licensing the channel to third parties within the French media and internationally, the league would avoid all the pitfalls of DTC businesses. That presents a dilemma for DAZN’s business model.
[Author’s Note: I am including a short preview of last week’s presentation I recorded exclusively for PARQOR Platinum subscribers. It is how the production and distribution sides of the media business are “flattening”—which I explain in this clip—and how that is playing out in the broader marketplace.
Upgrade your subscription now to learn more about how “flattening” in production and distribution are playing out in the marketplace in Q2 2025 and beyond.]