beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group
beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is
Yousef Obaidly.
beIN Sports is the dominant television sports channel in the
MENA region. It also operates channels in France, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
History
Early career
Al Jazeera Media Network entered the European television rights market in June 2011 when it purchased a package of live French football
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
matches from 2012 to 2016 for
€90 million a year. The deal makes them joint broadcasters of domestic top-flight football in France alongside long-term rights holders
Canal+.
The broadcaster also acquired the
pay-TV rights to the
UEFA Champions League,
Europa League from 2012 to 2015,
Euro 2012 and
Euro 2016 in France.
France was targeted as Al Jazeera's first entry into Europe due to the fact that there were no dedicated sports channels, unlike in the
United Kingdom.
The name "beIN Sports" was first revealed in early 2012. According to
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the director of Al Jazeera Sports, the name "symbolises the mind of two channels aiming at bringing live and exclusive broadcasting of the biggest events." Former Canal+ executive Charles Bietry was hired by Al Jazeera to launch the channels.
The channels will be available on all
cable and
IPTV providers and select satellite providers.
CanalSat – owned by
Canal+ Group – has declined to carry the channels as of March 2012. beIN Sports was officially launched on June 1, 2012, in time to broadcast Euro 2012.
beIN Sports 2 commenced on July 27, 2012, in time to broadcast the French
Ligue 2
Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...
season, and before the start of the
2012–13 Ligue 1
The 2012–13 Ligue 1 was the 75th season since its establishment. Montpellier were the defending champions. The league schedule was announced in April 2012 and the fixtures were determined on 30 May. The season began on 10 August and ended on ...
season.
In June 2015, it was announced that
Nasser Al-Khelaifi had plans to create the beIN Sports channel on TV operators to cable in Brazil.
beIN Sports Spain officially began broadcasting on 1 July 2015, the date on which
Gol Televisión ceased broadcasting all football games, which during the summer were in place under the slogan "Change the game", "Cambia el juego" in Spanish. Thanks to an alliance between
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
and
Mediapro, beIN Sports Spain offers
UEFA Champions League (2015–2018),
UEFA Europe League (2015–2018),
UEFA Super Cup (2015–2017),
Premier League (2015–16 season only),
Serie A,
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...
,
Jupiler Pro League,
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
DFB Pokal,
Coupe de la Ligue
The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...
,
KNVB Beker,
Johan Cruijff Shield,
Copa de Brasil
The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...
,
CONCACAF Gold Cup,
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
and
Copa Sudamericana
The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...
. beIN Sports Spain can be viewed over the Internet, smart TV (
LG and
Samsung), PC, laptops, tablets, Smartphones (iOS/Android), PS3/PS4,
Chromecast
Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback with ...
, TV Operators (
Orange,
Vodafone and
Telecable
Telecable is a cable company that operates in Asturias (northern Spain) offering triple play services (telephone, Internet and television) as well as mobile phone services as an MVNO since 2007.
The company started out as Telecable de Oviedo, Tel ...
) and online platforms (beIN Sports Connect, Total Channel and
YouTube). On Wednesday August 19, due to the start of the playoffs of the UEFA Champions League,
beIN Sports (Spain)
beIN Sports Spain was a Television in Spain, Spanish network of List of sports television channels, sports channels owned by Qatari Sports Investments (an affiliate of beIN Media Group) and operated by Mediapro. It is the Spanish version of the g ...
begins to emit beIN Sports MAX (up to 8 simultaneous channels) to broadcast all matches of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europe League.
beIN Sports (Spain)
beIN Sports Spain was a Television in Spain, Spanish network of List of sports television channels, sports channels owned by Qatari Sports Investments (an affiliate of beIN Media Group) and operated by Mediapro. It is the Spanish version of the g ...
offers customers
Gol Televisión lost up to 30 June 2015 an exclusive promotion to watch beIN Sports through beIN Sports CONNECT, and through the app "TotalChannel". It also offers channels like FOX, AXN, TNT, and the best entertainment channels in HD for €5/month for two months, then from the third month onwards €9.99/month.
beIN Sports (Spain)
beIN Sports Spain was a Television in Spain, Spanish network of List of sports television channels, sports channels owned by Qatari Sports Investments (an affiliate of beIN Media Group) and operated by Mediapro. It is the Spanish version of the g ...
developed a channel licensed for bars in
Spain called "beIN Sports BAR". The channel stopped transmission on 9 August 2018.
For the 2016–2017 season and onwards, beIN Sports Spain has the television rights to
La Liga (eight games a day, always one of Real Madrid or FC Barcelona) and
Copa del Rey.
beIN Media Group acquired
Digiturk in July 2015.
On November 1, 2017, beIN Sports created an
Olympic Channel in the Middle East and North Africa region.
On 19 April 2016, beIN Sports launched on Starhub TV Channel 213.
On 1 August 2016, beIN Sports launched on Astro on Channel 837 until moved to Channel 818 on 1 August 2019.
On 19 October 2018, beIN Sports MAX launched on Singtel TV on Channel 110.
On 4 December 2018, beIN Sports MAX launched on Astro on Channel 841 until moved to Channel 819 on 1 August 2019.
On 6 August 2019, beIN Sports launched on Singtel TV on Channel 109 and it ceased transmission on 2 October 2021. However, beIN Sports made its return on Singtel TV on 11 March 2022 on Channel 109/126 and launch beIN Sports 2 on Channel 117 and 127 on the same date.From 27 June 2022, beIN Sports, beIN Sports 2 and beIN Sports 3 channels are only available on Channel 126, 127 and 128 on Singtel TV.
On 7 January 2022, beIN Sports Max was rebranded to beIN Sports 3 in Malaysia and Singapore.
On 1 May 2022, beIN Sports and beIN Sports 3 launched on Unifi TV.
On 1 August 2022, beIN Sports 4 launched on Unifi TV.
In France, where beIN Sports was launched for the first time, it holds the rights to broadcast major
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
tournaments, including
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
La Liga,
Serie A,
Bundesliga and the
European Football Championship. Along with
Canal+, beIN Sports also holds the rights to broadcast all the
Champions League matches from 2021 to 2024.
In the United States and Canada, beIN Sports holds the rights to broadcast
La Liga,
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers,
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
and
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
matches and
Real Madrid TV. It launched two channels in the United States (English and Spanish), in August 2012, followed by a full channel in Canada, on 31 January 2014.
In Indonesia, beIN Sports holds the rights to broadcast
La Liga,
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
Serie A (2013–2016, return in 2018),
Süper Lig (2017–18 until 2021–22),
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
(starts 2017–18 season),
FFA Cup (starts 2017 season),
CAF World Cup Qualifiers,
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
(MLS), and more. In Malaysia, beIN Sports offers comprehensive coverage of European Football Leagues including La Liga, Ligue 1 and more.
In Hong Kong, beIN Sports holds the rights to broadcast
Serie A,
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
(MLS),
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
(starts 2017–18 season),
FFA Cup (starts 2017 season),
UEFA Champions League,
UEFA Europa League and more. In Thailand, beIN Sports holds the rights to broadcast
La Liga,
Serie A,
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
, MLS,
Süper Lig (2017–18 until 2021–22),
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
(starts 2017–18 season),
FFA Cup (starts 2017 season), and more.
In Australia, the channel was launched in late November 2014, following the acquisition of Setanta Sports Australia which was rebranded as beIN Sports. beIN Sports Australia holds the rights to broadcast
UEFA Champions League (2015–2018),
UEFA Europa League (2015–2018),
EFL Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
,
La Liga,
Serie A,
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
Bundesliga,
MLS,
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
and
RBS Six Nations
The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...
. On 14 March 2016, beIN Sports Australia expanded from one to three channels, all in HD, and as of 15 May 2016 has been made available to all
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...
sport pack subscribers, rather than the original add-on cost for a single SD channel. Fetch subscribers still only have access to beIN Sports 1, which is an add-on cost each month.
beIN Connect, also known as beIN Sports Connect, is a subsidiary
over-the-top content
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...
(OTT) service started in 2014. It allows users to watch live and on-demand video content from a Mac, Windows PC, mobile phone, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 via a broadband or Wi-Fi internet connection. On-demand content comprises sports highlights, movies, and TV shows. beIN CONNECT is available as a paid service in France, Spain, United States, Canada, Turkey (in 2017),
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
(in 2017) and the
MENA region.
Programming
Football
FIFA World Cup
In 2014, beIN Sports held the rights to broadcast the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In 2018, beIN Sports broadcast the 2018
FIFA World Cup. On 23 February 2020, BeIn Sports announced to broadcast special shows and dedicated programs for 1000 days until the
2022 FIFA World Cup
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...
. To be broadcast from February 25 on its free-to-air and HD1 channel, the programs were supposed to include historic matches, highlights from the international best players, history of Qatari football and special clips of the day
Qatar won the World Cup bid.
UEFA Euro
In 2012, the network held the rights to broadcast all
UEFA Euro 2012. In 2016, beIN Sports broadcast
Euro 2016 matches on the French pay-TV platform while
TF1
TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network.
TF1 is par ...
and
M6 have the
free-to-air rights to select matches.
Champions League
In November 2019, Canal+ and beIN Sports won the rights to broadcast Champions League matches in France between 2021 and 2024.
Ligue 1
In France, beIN Sports holds one of five rights packages for
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
from 2012 to 2016 – the package consisting of Friday night and Sunday evening matches. The other four packages are held by
Canal+.
It also shows
Ligue 2
Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...
matches. For the
UEFA Champions League, it has the rights to broadcast all matches except the 13 weekly first-choice picks (yet to be awarded to any broadcaster as of April 2012) from 2012.
It also owns the rights to all
UEFA Europa League matches including the final.
Also in France, beIN Sports and Canal+ also share the rights to
Serie A and
Bundesliga matches. It also airs
FA Cup,
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
,
La Liga,
Argentine Primera División
The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA).
Th ...
and
Brasileirao. In the
United States, the network holds the rights package for
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
La Liga, FIFA World Cup qualification rounds in the Americas (
CONMEBOL
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
and
CONCACAF), except for home matches by Mexico and the United States (which are both held by
Univision and
ESPN).
In April 2020, beIN Sports announced that it will broadcast a month-long online football gaming tournament organized by
Paris Saint-Germain to entertain people stuck at home, due to Coronavirus. On 13 February 2021, beIN Sports secured exclusive domestic broadcast rights from Canal+ for the remaining matches of Ligue 2’s 2020/21 season. BeIN already had the rights to broadcast two live matches per match week under its existing €30 million per season deal with the French Professional Football League (LFP) for the 2020-24 cycle. With this sublicensing deal, beIN can air the remaining eight live matches per week until the end of 2020-21 season.
Stars League
beIN Sports held the rights to broadcast the seasons of
Qatar Stars League
The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...
.
Süper Lig
In 2017, beIN Sports bought the broadcasting rights of the Turkish
Süper Lig until 2024.
SPFL
BeIN shows live Premiership games.
Rugby union
In France, beIN Sports broadcasts November test matches,
European Rugby Champions Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
,
European Rugby Challenge Cup,
English Premiership and
Pro14.
Rugby league
beIN Sports will broadcast the
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
including all home matches of French side
Catalans Dragons.
Other competitions include the Australian
National Rugby League and
State of Origin series.
beIN Sports was awarded the rights to the
2013 Rugby League World Cup
The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013.
It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...
and broadcast all matches live.
Cricket
In 2017,
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
debuted on the channel. BeIN Sports has acquired the
Cricket Australia and
England and Wales Cricket Board rights for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and broadcast the
2017–18 Ashes series
The 2017–18 Ashes series (named Magellan Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. The series was played at five venues across Australia between 23 Novembe ...
and
2017–18 Big Bash League season.
Indian Premier League
BeIN Sports also acquired the
Indian Premier League (IPL) rights in April 2018 for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in a five-year deal with
Star India
Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, reac ...
up to 2022.
Pakistan Super League
In early 2021, beIN Sports held the rights to broadcast the
2021 Pakistan Super League
The 2021 Pakistan Super League (also known as PSL 6 or for sponsorship reasons HBL PSL 2021) was the sixth season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2015. It was i ...
.
Motorsports
On 23 February 2013, as part of Al-Jazeera's increasing footprint in the
Superbike World Championship, which they hold rights in the Middle East, and the transitional shutdown of
Fox Sports motorsport operations in Charlotte, North Carolina, beIN Sports acquired the rights to the Superbike World Championship in the United States, which also includes live coverage of the races and also the support classes, which had never been televised in the United States in the past.
beIN Sports also airs the
FIA World Rallycross Championship in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa.
In 2016, beIN Sports began to broadcast two more Dorna-controlled motorcycle road racing series in the United States and Canada --
MotoGP
Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...
, the
Superbike World Championship, giving them control of FIM road racing on North American television. The deal ended after the 2019. The channel also aired
MotoAmerica from 2016 to 2018.
Team handball
beIN Sports has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the
EHF Champions League (
Team Handball). The EHF Champions League is the most important club competition for men's and women's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations.
In January 2013, beIN Sports also acquired the broadcast rights to the
2013 World Men's Handball Championship
The 2013 World Men's Handball Championship was the 23rd World Men's Handball Championship, an international handball tournament that took place in Spain from 11 to 27 January 2013. This was the first time Spain hosted the World Men's Handball C ...
. beIN Sports USA aired live, delayed and pre-recorded
HD games in the US, between January 11–27, 2013.
Tennis
In France, beIN Sports airs the
Wimbledon Championships,
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
,
Fed Cup,
ATP World Tour Masters 1000,
ATP World Tour 500,
ATP World Tour Finals, and some
ATP World Tour 250 and
WTA Tour tournaments.
beIN Sports will be the exclusive broadcaster of WTA Tour in the United States, Australia, the Middle East, and North Africa from 2017 to 2021.
Other sports
In France, beIN Sports aired the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
tennis, handball and basketball tournaments. In athletics, beIN Sports airs the
IAAF Diamond League and several international marathons and World Indoor Meetings. In cycling, it broadcasts some
UCI World Tour road races, including the
Giro d'Italia, as well as the UCI Road, Track, Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships ("Mountain Bike Mania," 2016-2018). The channel also airs the French Handball Championship,
FIVB World League,
EuroLeague (
top-tier European basketball club competition),
National Basketball Association (NBA),
National Football League (NFL), and
Major League Baseball (MLB).
On 25 May 2016, the U.S. beIN Sports announced that it had acquired partial rights to
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
college sports, including a package of selected
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
,
basketball,
baseball,
softball, and
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
matches. The deal marks the first
American football-related contract the U.S. network has acquired.
On 20 April 2018,
professional wrestling debuted on the channel with the premiere of
Major League Wrestling's weekly series, ''
MLW Fusion'', on
beIN Sports USA.
Football broadcasters
The channel's football coverage is notably fronted by
Richard Keys and
Andy Gray.
Football coverage
Basketball coverage
Tennis coverage
Handball coverage
Rugby coverage
Distribution
Indonesia & Philippines
Current channels
beIN Sports 1 HD will focus on year-round live football with the
Premier League (2013–2019) being prominent as well as content from Arsenal, Liverpool, and Spurs club channels in
streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
. Other live coverage will come from the
Serie A (2013–2021 exclude 2016–2018),
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
,
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
(MLS), the Brazilian national leagues (Paulistao & Brasileirão) (2013–2015), as well as major cup tournaments such as the
FA Cup (2013–2024),
Coppa Italia (2013 and 2014), and the
Coupe de la Ligue
The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...
.
From 2016, this channel also broadcast not only football but other sporting events, such as: Tennis, Motor-racing, Handball, and many more.
beIN Sports 2 HD will also feature live football but will have another sports remit. Starting January 2022, beIN Sports 2 will begin airing tennis coverages as the latter acquired broadcast rights of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and the
ATP tours.
beIN Sports 3 HD same as the beIN Sports 2 HD. This channel has been launched since August 2016, replacing the Premier League channel.
Former channel
Premier League HD will be a 24-hour Premier League-dedicated channel in Indonesia broadcasting nearly 1,600 hours of live programming from 2013–14 to 2015–16 season. This includes all 380 Premier League matches per season, weekly magazine show Premier League World, as well as pre-match coverage and post-game analysis in addition to weekly preview and review shows and highlights in interviews.
Canada
Despite most of its North American broadcast rights contracts covering both the United States and Canada, beIN Sports initially was not authorized to broadcast in the country nor had it sub-licensed any of its programmings to local broadcasters. The channel had a difficult time finding a broadcaster willing to partner up with it to launch its services. In October 2013, beIN Sports launched an online streaming service in Canada through their websit
www.beINsportsplay.ca The live service was available at no charge for registered users until 1 February 2014; since then, users can access the streams for CAD$19.99 per month. On-demand coverage is not available through beIN Sports Play Canada.
On 18 December 2013, beIN Sports announced they had reached a deal with Ethnic Channels Group, a local ethnic broadcaster, to launch their services in Canada. The channel was officially launched on 31 January 2014 via
MTS and
NEXTV.
beIN Sports HD is available on Shaw Cable on channel 234, Rogers Cable on channel 391, on Bell Satellite & Fibe on channel 1412, on
Videotron on channel 797 and through OTT broadcaster
DAZN.
France
In July 2018, beIN Sports struck a multi-million rights deal with French sports agency, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), granting it the sole rights in MENA to broadcast all its major events until 2023. But in April 2019, ASO confirmed that one its major event, Dakar Rally would be held in Saudi Arabia from 2020 under a multi-year accord. Following which, beIN said that ASO was trying to exit its MENA deal and instead making a transition towards Saudi broadcaster. However, in October 2019, the president of the Nanterre Commercial Court in France ruled that ASO must continue to maintain its five-year exclusive rights agreement with beIN.
Controversies
Market position
beIN Sports' market positions in some regions have led to concerns over the network's dominance. In 2016, French authorities blocked a deal by beIN Sports France to sub-license its sports properties to
Canal+ Sport, as it would have given the partnership control of 80% of French sports media rights. At the
2017 World Men's Handball Championship
The 2017 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 25th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. The event was held in France from 11 to 29 January 2017.
France, in a clean sweep, defended their title by defeating Norway 33–26 ...
, whose international media rights were owned by beIN Sports, French radio stations declined to air the tournament as beIN Sports wanted them to pay administrative fees about five times higher than technical cost, in violation of French law. The
2017 Africa Cup of Nations
The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...
were also left without domestic television coverage in four MENA region countries participating in the tournament – Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia – due to exorbitant sublicensing fees being demanded from free-to-air broadcasters by beIN as the region's rightsholder.
In August 2018, beIN Sports was fined, and subsequently banned from operating in Saudi Arabia, with the government citing its forced
bundling of the networks with unrelated services. beIN criticised the actions as being politically-motivated. The following March, beIN's rights to the
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were stripped in Saudi Arabia to "cancel" its monopoly on the sport, due to the "illegality of BeIN Sport to transmit in the Kingdom due to the grave violations of the laws and regulations BeIN Sport has committed", and "its inability to obtain the required licenses necessary for it to fulfil its commitments in transmitting AFC's competitions to the viewers and followers in the Kingdom". beIN threatened legal action, accusing the AFC of colluding with the
Saudi Arabian Football Federation to breach its contract.
By contrast, beIN Sports' relatively niche position in the United States (where it focuses particularly on international sports not picked up by other networks) led to criticism of its broadcasting deal with the
WTA Tour for non-domestic events, as the channel's prioritisation of football in its scheduling, narrower carriage than its previous broadcaster
Tennis Channel, as well as being dropped by several major cable providers in 2018, limited the availability of its coverage. These issues led to concerns that the limited coverage would give women's tennis little exposure outside of majors and domestic tour events. beIN Sports U.S. dropped the WTA Tour after the 2018 season, and it subsequently signed a new contract to return to Tennis Channel in the 2019 season.
In April 2020, amidst claims of
Saudi Saudi may refer to:
* Saudi Arabia
* Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia
* Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia
* House of Saud
The House of Saud ( ar, آل سÙعÙود, ʾĀl SuÊ¿Å«d ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
PIF taking over Premier League club
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
, beIN Sports wrote a letter to league's chief executive Richard Masters and issued a notice to 19 clubs, except Newcastle. In its letter, the broadcaster claimed that Saudi Arabian pay TV network
beoutQ, has been illicitly regulating its
copyright protected content and demanded
Premier League to block the deal. “Given the crippling economic effect that
coronavirus
Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...
is having on the sports industry, this is all happening at a time when football clubs need to protect their broadcast revenue the most,†BeIN chief executive Yousef al-Obaidly wrote.
Piracy
Premier League rights
In 2014, the
Premier League restricted
beIN Sports in the MENA region to airing one match per-week with a 3:00 p.m. UK time kickoff on television only. As these matches
may not be broadcast within the United Kingdom due to domestic rights restrictions, the Premier League showed concerns that beIN was not taking adequate steps to prevent its streaming broadcasts from being used for unauthorized retransmissions, especially into the United Kingdom. In November 2014, the Premier League reinstated beIN's full access to 3 p.m. fixtures.
The company recently wrote to Premier League clubs to warn them against agreeing to a takeover deal with a Saudi-led consortium for Newcastle United. The Premier League board is currently deciding on whether to allow the deal to go through.
beoutQ
Due to the then-ongoing
diplomatic crisis {{Refimprove, date=December 2011
An international incident (or diplomatic incident) is a seemingly relatively small or limited action, incident or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states. International incidents can ...
between Qatar and other Arab countries, beIN was restricted from doing business in Saudi Arabia and the UAE since June 2017. The UAE un-banned the MENA network a month later, with no progress from Saudi Arabia reported. Months later in August 2018, it was revealed the Saudi pirate broadcaster,
beoutQ, has been pirating the networks' programming in the region for over a year,
which has faced criticism from beIN and rightsholders over its "industrial-scale"
copyright infringement.
However, no law firm in Saudi Arabia was reportedly willing to represent the rightsholders in Saudi courts. Nor was the Saudi-majority owned
ArabSat reported of responding to takedown pleas against beoutQ. In August 2019, the operations were eventually taken off-air. However, in November of same year, beIN Media alerted that despite ceasing satellite transmissions in mid-August, pirate broadcast operation, beoutQ, was still distributing its copyrighted content via the IPTV function of set-top boxes. beIN Media's licence in Saudi Arabia was permanently revoked by Saudi authorities in July 2020 under the charges of antitrust practices following the
World Trade Organization ruling the prior month concluding that Saudi Arabia didn't take any noticeable action in stopping beoutQ, and to the contrary, harboured and sponsored its operations. beIN Media says that even after
the signing of al-'Ula Declaration in early January 2021, Saudi Arabia is yet to reverse its decision to ban its operations in the national market.
However, on 6 October 2021, beIN media group said in a statement that Saudi Arabia will soon lift a four year ban on the channel and close its pirate websites, only beIN holds the rights to broadcast the Premier League across the Middle East.
Italian football coverage rights
In November 2019, beIN Sports announced that it was reviewing its partnership with
Serie A and considering cancelling all of its agreements in Italian football, following the league's decision to play a
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...
match between
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
and
Lazio in Saudi Arabia, despite piracy concerns. "It is remarkable what Serie A is seemingly prepared to jeopardize, not only all the financial revenues from one of its biggest broadcaster partners, but also the exposure beIN gives to the league in markets all around the world," a statement from the television network read.
beIN Sports normally shows top-tier Italian football matches in 35 countries but on Saturday night, anyone tuning in to watch Torino take on Parma in
Serie A’s return would have been disappointed.
In matchweek 27 of
2019–20 season, other countries (exc.
NZ), viewers were treated instead to a
Turkish Süper Lig match between Denizlispor and Besiktas. And a late-night trawl through beIN Sports website for all of Saturday’s results suggested there weren’t any games played in Italy—just England, Spain, France and Germany. For the record, Torino and Parma drew 1-1.
But in matchweek 28, beIN Sports social medias apologizes to all global viewers and announced the comeback coverage.
beIN paid $500 million to broadcast
Serie A from 2018-2021, an agreement that has been beset by snags. It claims strong backing from competitions including England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and the Wimbledon tennis championships, as part of a long-running campaign against its sports rights being pirated in Saudi Arabia.
See also
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beIN Media Group
* beIN Sports
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MENA
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USA
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Canada
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Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
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France
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Turkey
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Spain
References
External links
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{{Association football on television
BeIN Media Group
Sports television networks
Mass media companies established in 2012
2012 establishments in France
Television stations in Indonesia
Television channels and stations established in 2012
Sports divisions of TV channels
Television stations in Thailand