Bein Sport English
Vanina Mazzillo
beIN Sports (/ˈbiːɪn/ BEE-in) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef Obaidly.[1]
beIN Sports is the dominant television sports channel in the MENA region. It also operates channels in France, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.
In France, where beIN Sports was launched for the first time, it holds the rights to broadcast major football tournaments, including Ligue 1, 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.[14]
In the United States and Canada, beIN Sports holds the rights to broadcast La Liga, Ligue 1, CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers, Copa Libertadores and Football League Championship matches and Real Madrid TV.[15] 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.
beIN Connect, also known as beIN Sports Connect, is a subsidiary over-the-top content (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 (in 2017) and the MENA region.[19]
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. 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.[20]
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 and M6 have the free-to-air rights to select matches.[5]
beIN Sports will broadcast the Super League including all home matches of French side Catalans Dragons.[29] Other competitions include the Australian National Rugby League and State of Origin series.[29]
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.[31]
In 2016, beIN Sports began to broadcast two more Dorna-controlled motorcycle road racing series in the United States and Canada -- MotoGP, 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.
From 2014 to 2018, they had broadcast rights for the MENA region. However, in February 2019, beIN Sports, citing market conditions, declined to renew rights, and, until February 2024, the rights were instead given to MBC Action, whose parent company Middle East Broadcasting Center is majority-owned by the Saudi government.[32] In early 2023, beIN Sports got the rights to broadcast the Formula One in southeast Asia from 2023 to 2028,[33] and, in February 2024, reacquired rights for the MENA region as well as Turkey, which runs through 2033.[34]
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 France, beIN Sports airs the Wimbledon Championships, Davis Cup, 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 and then returned to 2024 to 2031 with Turkey was added it rights.
In France, beIN Sports aired the 2012 Summer Olympics 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 college sports, including a package of selected college football, basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer matches. The deal marks the first American football-related contract the U.S. network has acquired.[35]
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 French Open and the ATP tours.
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 website 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.[38]
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.[39] The channel was officially launched on 31 January 2014 via MTS and NEXTV.
beIN Sports HD is available on Shaw Cable on channel 234,[40] Rogers Cable on channel 391,[41] on Bell Satellite & Fibe on channel 1412,[42] on Videotron on channel 797 and through OTT broadcaster DAZN.
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.[43] 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.[44]
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.[49][50] 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 [sic] 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.[51][52]
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.[53][54][55][56]
In April 2020, amidst claims of Saudi PIF taking over Premier League club Newcastle United, 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 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.[57]
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