beIN Sports ( ) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is

Nasser Al-Khelaifi Nasser bin Ghanim Al-Khelaifi (; born 12 November 1973) is a Qatari businessman, sports executive, and former professional tennis player. He is the chairman of beIN Media Group and Qatar Sports Investments, president of Paris Saint-Germain FC, ...

, and its CEO is Yousef Obaidly. beIN Sports is the dominant television sports channel in the

MENA The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

region. It also operates channels in France, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

History

Reporter Thomas Ferro Villechaize Bein Sport

Early career

Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media media conglomerate, conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera E ...

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 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

matches from 2012 to 2016 for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

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 Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

rights to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The name "beIN Sports" was first revealed in early 2012. According to

, 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 Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

providers and select satellite providers. CanalSat – owned by

Canal+ Group Canal+ S.A., formerly Groupe Canal+, is a French Media conglomerate, media and telecommunications Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Paris. It runs its own Canal+ (streaming service), eponymous Over-the-top media service, over-the-to ...

– 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 sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

season, and before the start of the 2012–13 Ligue 1 season. In June 2015, it was announced that

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 Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

and

Mediapro Mediaproducción, S.L.U., better known as Mediapro, is a multimedia communications group in Spain founded in April 1994 in Barcelona. The company is well involved in movie and television production. The company holds branch offices in Madrid, S ...

, beIN Sports Spain offers

(2015–2018),

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

(2015–2018),

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

(2015–2017),

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

(2015–16 season only),

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

, Jupiler Pro League,

, DFB Pokal,

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

, KNVB Beker, Johan Cruijff Shield, Copa de Brasil,

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

and

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. beIN Sports Spain can be viewed over the Internet, smart TV ( LG and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

), PC, laptops, tablets, Smartphones (iOS/Android), PS3/PS4,

Chromecast Chromecast is a discontinued line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streaming media, streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The u ...

, TV Operators ( Orange,

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

and Telecable) and online platforms (beIN Sports Connect, Total Channel and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

). 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 was the Spanish version of the ...

begins to emit beIN Sports MAX (up to 8 simultaneous channels) to broadcast all matches of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

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.

developed a channel licensed for bars in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

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 The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

(eight games a day, always one of Real Madrid or FC Barcelona) and

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. In 2015, beIN Sports expanded its global footprint by acquiring Digiturk, a Turkish-pay-TV platform, which added millions of subscribers to its audience. This move positioned the network as a leader in both European and Asian markets. By 2024, beIN Sports achieved a major milestone, attracting over 1.2 billion views for its coverage of the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament, setting a new standard for sports broadcasting globally (beIN Sports, 2024). The network also embraced digital innovation, offering subscribers access to live and on-demand content through the beIN CONNECT platform, thus enhancing its accessibility and user engagement (Al-Obaidly, 2019). On November 1, 2017, beIN Sports created an

Olympic Channel Olympic Channel is an over-the-top Internet television service operated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was launched on August 21, 2016, alongside the closing of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The service aims to maintain year-round ...

in the Middle East and North Africa region. beIN Sports was firstly launched in Singapore through Starhub TV Channel 213 on 19 April 2016. beIN Sports was briefly launched on Singtel TV Channel 109 from 6 August 2019 to 2 October 2021. The latter was then returned on 11 March 2022 due to the closure for Fox Sports Asia. beIN Sports 1 though 3 for Singtel TV are now located on Channel 126, 127 and 128 respectively. beIN Sports launched on Malaysia Astro Channel 837 on 1 August 2016 before the channel was relocated to Channel 818 on 1 August 2019 and then to Channel 820 on 17 October 2024. The channel was also launched on

Unifi TV Unifi TV (formerly known as hyppTV, stylized as Unifi tv prior to January 2018) is an IPTV service operated by Unifi. It was launched in 2010 as part of Unifi's bundled service offering of VoIP telephone, Internet and IPTV. History An ea ...

on 1 May 2022. beIN Sports MAX, which mostly aired UEFA Champions and Europa League, launched on Singtel TV on Channel 110 on 19 October 2018. It also launched on Astro on Channel 841 on 4 December 2018 before it was relocate to Channel 819 on 1 August 2019. On 7 January 2022, beIN Sports Max was rebranded to beIN Sports 3 in Malaysia and Singapore. 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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournaments, including

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

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

, CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers,

and

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

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

(2013–2016, return in 2018),

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

(2017–18 until 2021–22),

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

(starts 2017–18 season), FFA Cup (starts 2017 season), CAF World Cup Qualifiers,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(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

(MLS),

(starts 2017–18 season), FFA Cup (starts 2017 season),

and more. In Thailand, beIN Sports holds the rights to broadcast

(2013–2016, return in 2018),

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

(until 2022),

(2017–18 until 2021–22),

(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

(2015–2018),

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

and RBS Six Nations. 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 NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

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 media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, satel ...

(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

region.

Programming

Football

FIFA World Cup

From 2014 to 2017, beIN Sports held the rights to broadcast the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In 2018, beIN Sports broadcast the 2018

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

. 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 was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. 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 Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

won the World Cup bid.

UEFA Euro

From 2012 to 2015, the network held the rights to broadcast all

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

. From 2016 to 2021, 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 part ...

and M6 have the

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

rights to select matches.

Champions League

On November 23, 2019, Canal+, beIN Sports, Fox Sports, TVE, Antena 4 and Sports 2 won the rights to broadcast Champions League matches On France, Spain, Uk, Canada and Latin America between 2021 and 2024.

Ligue 1

In France, beIN Sports holds one of five rights packages for

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

matches. For the

, 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

matches including the final. On France, Spain, Russian and United States beIN Sports and Canal+ also share the rights to

and

matches. It also airs

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

and Brasileirao. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the network holds the rights package for

, FIFA World Cup qualification rounds in the Americas (

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

and

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

), except for home matches by Mexico and the United States (which are both held by

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

). In April 2020, beIN Sports announced that it will broadcast a month-long online football gaming tournament organized by

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

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.

Ligue 2

On 26 June 2024, all matches of Ligue 2 will be broadcast in Bein Sports from 2024–25 to 2028–29.

Stars League

beIN Sports held the rights to broadcast the seasons of

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo 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 promotion and relegation wi ...

Süper Lig

On December 27, 2017, beIN Sports bought the broadcasting rights of the Turkish

until 2027.

SPFL

BeIN shows live Premiership games.

Rugby

Rugby union

On France, Spain and Latin America beIN Sports broadcasts November test matches, European Rugby Champions Cup,

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

, English Premiership and

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

Rugby league

beIN Sports will broadcast the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

including all home matches of French side

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

. Other competitions include the Australian

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...

. beIN Sports was awarded the rights to the 2013 Rugby League World Cup and broadcast all matches live.

Cricket

In 2017,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

debuted on the channel. BeIN Sports has acquired the

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

and

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

rights for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and broadcast the 2017–18 Ashes series and 2017–18 Big Bash League season.

Indian Premier League

BeIN Sports also acquired the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

(IPL) rights in April 2018 for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in a five-year deal with

Star India Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...

up to 2022.

Pakistan Super League

On early December 31, 2024, beIN Sports held the rights to broadcast the 2024 Pakistan Super League.

Motorsports

On 23 February 2013, as part of Al-Jazeera's increasing footprint in the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...

, which they hold rights in the Middle East, and the transitional shutdown of

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

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 The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull G ...

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 highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

, the

, 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 2017.

Formula One

From 2014 to 2018, they had broadcast rights for the MENA, Spain and Uk 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. In early 2023, beIN Sports got the rights to broadcast the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

in southeast Asia from 2023 to 2028, and, in February 2024, reacquired rights for the MENA region as well as Turkey, which runs through 2033.

Team handball

beIN Sports has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

(

Team Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a Handball goalkeeper, goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands ...

). 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. beIN Sports USA aired live, delayed and pre-recorded HD games in the US, between January 11–27, 2013.

Basketball

''Basketball programming on beIN Sports has gained prominence with exclusive coverage of the NBA and Euroleague games. The network also highlights basketball’s growing popularity in the MENA region, where events like the annual NBA Abu Dhabi Games have become a major attraction, which draw fans from across the globe (Baraheni, 2024). Expert commentators like Eric Micoud guarantee that both seasoned fans and newcomers gain valuable insights into the games (Sim, 2024).''

Tennis

In France, beIN Sports airs the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 The ATP 1000 events, also known as ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, are an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour since its inception in 1990. The ATP 1000 tournaments, sitting below the Gran ...

, ATP World Tour 500, ATP World Tour Finals, and some

ATP World Tour 250 The ATP 250 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 250'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series'', and ''ATP World Series'') are the lowest tier of annual men's tennis tournaments on the main ATP Tour, after the four Grand Slam (t ...

and

WTA Tour The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

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. ''With commentators such as Tatiana Golovin and Sébastien Grosjean, the network enhances the viewing experience by offering expert perspectives on player strategies and match dynamics (Martin et al., 2017).''

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, were 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 The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

, 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 The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

( top-tier European

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club competition),

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA),

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). On 25 May 2016, the U.S. beIN Sports announced that it had acquired partial rights to

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

college sports College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries. College sports tra ...

, including a package of selected

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

matches. The deal marks the first

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

-related contract the U.S. network has acquired. On 20 April 2018,

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

debuted on the channel with the premiere of

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

'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

''Football remains at the core of beIN Sports' programming, featuring tournaments like the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, and La Liga. Iconic broadcasters Richard Keys and Andy Gray lead the channel’s analysis, offering in-depth commentary and tactical breakdowns of matches. This approach has elevated beIN Sports as the go-to network for football fans globally (BeIN Sports, 2024).''

Basketball coverage

Tennis coverage

Handball coverage

Rugby coverage

Digital Innovation

beIN Sports has heavily invested in digital platforms to expand its reach. The beIN CONNECT platform enables subscribers to stream live and on-demand content across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. During UEFA Euro 2024, beIN CONNECT recorded over 1.2 billion views, showcasing the platform's ability to engage a global audience at scale (BeIN Sports, 2024). By leveraging advanced technologies, the network personalizes recommendations and ensures high-quality viewing experiences, keeping pace with evolving viewer expectations (Sim, 2024).

Distribution

Indonesia & Philippines

Current channels

beIN Sports 1 HD broadcasts year-round live football with the

(2013–2019) being prominent as well as content from Arsenal, Liverpool, and Spurs club channels in

streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...

. Other live coverage will come from the

(2013–2021 exclude 2016–2018),

(MLS), the Brazilian national leagues (Paulistao & Brasileirão) (2013–2015), as well as major cup tournaments such as the

(2013–2024),

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

(2013 and 2014), and the

. Other sports are broadcasting on that channel including

(since 2023), and the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

. In 2014, beIN Sports was pulled from First Media due to carriage fee concern and this channel was removed from Transvision in 2016. However,

MNC Vision MNC Vision, previously known as Indovision, is a Satellite television, direct-to-home satellite television and radio service in Indonesia on a subscription basis. It is owned by PT w:id:MNC Vision Networks, MNC Vision Networks Tbk, which is a su ...

just carries this channel from 2016 until 2022 and then returned from 17 September 2024 as

rights has returned into the channel in Indonesia after 2015-18 seasons. 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 (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

, the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

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 DAZN (; pronounced "da zone") is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top sports Sports broadcasting, streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is o ...

. Moreover, beIN Sports entered the market through partnerships with local providers such as Ethnic Channels Group and digital platforms like DAZN. The availability of the beIN CONNECT platform has further expanded its accessibility, which offers flexible viewing options for subscribers (Chee, 2023).

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. ''beIN Sports has partnered with the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) to broadcast exclusive events like the Dakar Rally, further diversifying its sports portfolio and appealing to motorsport fans (Al-Obaidly, 2019).''

Controversies

Market position

beIN Sports' market positions in not important 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, 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 were also left without domestic television coverage in four 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 The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies 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 The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF; ) is the association football, football Sport governing body, governing body of Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1956, It's responsibilities include administration of club competitions and national teams. The ...

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

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 PIF taking over Premier League club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, 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 A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

protected content and demanded

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 comm ...

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. beIN has unveiled its new streaming service for the MENA region.

Piracy

Premier League rights

In 2014, the

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. In 2020, the company wrote to Premier League clubs to warn them against agreeing to a takeover deal with a Saudi-led consortium for Newcastle United, because of Saudi backing for the "theft" of BeIN transmissions by the Saidi broadcaster beoutQ. The Premier League board is currently allowed the deal to go through.

beoutQ

Due to the then-ongoing

diplomatic crisis Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

between Qatar and other Arab countries, beIN has been 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 Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

. 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 The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

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

and considering cancelling all of its agreements in Italian football, following the league's decision to play a

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

match between

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

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

'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

from 2018 to 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.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 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

History

Early career

Programming

Football

FIFA World Cup

UEFA Euro

Champions League

Ligue 1

Ligue 2

Stars League

Süper Lig

SPFL

Rugby

Rugby union

Rugby league

Cricket

Indian Premier League

Pakistan Super League

Motorsports

Formula One

Team handball

Basketball

Tennis

Other sports

Football broadcasters

Football coverage

Basketball coverage

Tennis coverage

Handball coverage

Rugby coverage

Digital Innovation

Distribution

Indonesia & Philippines

Current channels

Former channel

Canada

France

Controversies

Market position

Piracy

Premier League rights

beoutQ

Italian football coverage rights

See also

References

External links