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Newspaper · Belgium

La DH/Les Sports+

French-language daily published by IPM; a 2006 centenary article in the paper dates it from 19 April 1906; the Belgian Competition Authority cleared Rossel’s purchase of IPM’s press activities under conditions on 3 July 2026.
✓ Last reviewed: September 2026
Publisher, as printedIPM (Ipm sa), rue des Francs 79, 1040 Bruxelles, per the dhnet.be footer on 26 September 2026
Ownership changeRossel’s acquisition of IPM Presse’s press activities authorised under conditions by the Belgian Competition Authority, 3 July 2026
Language communityFrench-language
Dated from, own account19 April 1906, per La DH/Les Sports+ (19 April 2006)
Audience, own figures620,220 daily readers, CIM study June 2023 to May 2024, per La DH/Les Sports+ (12 November 2024); 600,000 readers (CIM Press 2020), per IPM

What is La DH/Les Sports+?

La DH/Les Sports+ is a French-language daily newspaper with a website, dhnet.be. On 26 September 2026 the site's footer named the publisher as IPM (Ipm sa), rue des Francs 79, 1040 Bruxelles, and carried the notice “DHnet 1996-2026”.[1] IPM's brand page describes it as “« LE » Quotidien belge francophone grand public et sportif qui affirme chaque jour sa recherche de l'exclusivité et de l'information enrichie, expliquée sur un ton direct”, with “6 éditions régionales”; that is the publisher's own description.[2]

The title is French-language. RSF's 2026 entry for Belgium describes the country as having distinct French-speaking and Flemish-speaking media markets.[6]

What does La DH/Les Sports+ cover?

IPM states: “Chaque jour la DH propose à ses lecteurs un cahier de plusieurs dizaines de pages, entièrement consacré aux Sports ainsi que des suppléments sportifs.”[2]

The sports section of dhnet.be carried on 26 September 2026 the description “Info sport : toutes les actualités sportives - Foot, cyclisme, basket, tennis, F1...”, and sub-sections for football, including the Belgian national team, the Jupiler Pro League and the Champions League; cycling, including the Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta and world championships; tennis; motor sport; athletics; basketball; running; and other sports, among them hockey, judo, rugby and golf. Its headlines that day included “Une joyeuse entrée historique pour Mark van Bommel”, on the national team's first match under its new coach, and a cycling item on the road world championships.[1]

The conditions attached to the Rossel–IPM decision bear on sport. The paper reported on 3 July 2026: “Les engagements prévoient également de limiter les partages de contenu entre les différents titres, à l'exception du contenu sportif.”[4] La Libre carried the same sentence in its report of the decision.[9]

How large is La DH/Les Sports+'s audience?

Press and web audiences in Belgium are measured by the CIM, whose own site could not be retrieved. The figures here are the publisher's and the paper's own accounts of CIM data.

IPM's brand page gives the paper 600,000 readers, citing CIM Press 2020, 60 per cent of them men. For the website it gives 1,570,000 pages viewed and 302,800 surfers per day, citing CIM Internet Audience for December 2020.[2] The paper itself reported on 12 November 2024: “La Dernière Heure, via son journal papier, numérique, son app ou son site d'info, touche au quotidien 620.220 lecteurs”, in a CIM study it describes as covering June 2023 to May 2024.[8]

The Reporters Without Borders article of 3 July 2026 states that the group “will therefore hold 94% of the French-language daily print press market and around 82% of the online news platforms serving Belgium's French-speaking market”; that is RSF's figure for the group, not for this title.[5]

Since when has La DH/Les Sports+ existed?

On its centenary the paper wrote, in an article of 19 April 2006: “Et depuis le 19 avril 1906, le journal qui allait devenir la DH”.[3] That date is the paper's own account.

Ownership, dated. On 3 July 2026 La DH/Les Sports+ reported: “C'est désormais officiel. Dans un communiqué de presse relayé ce vendredi 3 juillet 2026, l'Autorité de la Concurrence annonce avoir autorisé l'acquisition par le groupe de médias d'information Rossel, des activités de presse d'IPM Presse”, subject to commitments intended in particular to preserve the quality and diversity of the French-language daily press. La Libre reported the decision the same day.[4][9] The Competition Authority's own release could not be retrieved. The dhnet.be footer on 26 September 2026 still named IPM as publisher.[1]

Why does La DH/Les Sports+ matter in Belgium's sport?

It is the French-language daily whose publisher describes it as “grand public et sportif” and prints a daily sports section of several dozen pages.[2] Reporting the Rossel–IPM decision, the paper wrote: “Les titres, comme par exemple Le Soir, La Libre, L'Avenir ou La DH/Les Sports, conserveront leur identité propre, leur charte éditoriale ainsi que les ressources et garanties nécessaires afin d'assurer leur indépendance rédactionnelle.” The commitments, as reported, exempt sports content from the limits on sharing between titles.[4][9]

Three bodies have published on the transaction or the market, and each is quoted in its own words. The Competition Authority, as the paper reported, said it had taken into account “la baisse continue du lectorat et des revenus de la presse imprimée”, among other structural difficulties of the sector.[4][9] Reporters Without Borders headed its article of 3 July 2026 “IPM–Rossel Merger in Belgium: unprecedented near-monopoly of French-language press jeopardises media pluralism”.[5] Its 2026 country entry states: “The Belgian Competition Authority has approved the acquisition of IPM by the Rossel media group, which will now own all five French-language daily newspapers in Belgium.”[6] The Media Pluralism Monitor's Belgium 2026 page, written before the decision, stated: “If it would be approved, only one media company would own almost all the titles of the daily press in the French speaking part of the country.”[7]

References

  1. La DH/Les Sports+ — dhnet.be sports section (description, sub-sections, headlines and footer as retrieved 26 September 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  2. IPM — La Dernière Heure/Les Sports+ brand page (description; CIM Presse 2020; CIM Internet Audience 12/2020). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  3. La DH/Les Sports+ — De la première à La Dernière Heure (19 April 2006). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  4. La DH/Les Sports+ — Le rachat des activités de presse d’IPM par Rossel validé sous conditions par l’Autorité belge de la concurrence (3 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  5. Reporters Without Borders — IPM–Rossel Merger in Belgium: unprecedented near-monopoly of French-language press jeopardises media pluralism (3 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  6. Reporters Without Borders — 2026 World Press Freedom Index, Belgium (rank 16 of 180; media landscape, political and economic context). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  7. Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom — Belgium 2026, Media Pluralism Monitor country page (last modified 2 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  8. La DH/Les Sports+ — Popularité des journaux et sites d’infos: La DH enregistre la plus forte progression du CIM 2024, 620.220 fois merci (12 November 2024). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  9. La Libre — L’Autorité belge de la Concurrence autorise, sous conditions, le rachat des activités de presse d’IPM par Rossel (3 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.