SBS agrees broadcast deal with BeIn Sport for continued Champions League coverage
Pay-TV broadcaster BeIn Sport has on-sold free-to-air rights for the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League to SBS.
The Al Jazeera-owned channel bought the Australian rights for the competition earlier this month after outbidding long-time holder ESPN for them, as it looks to beef up its content offering in Australia.
The new three-year partnership will see SBS hold exclusive free-to-air rights, which will include one live match on Wednesdays and a weekly one hour highlights show on Thursday nights.
SBS previously held a similar deal with ESPN, and the latest agreement continues the broadcast partnership it has held with Europe’s premier club soccer completion since 1992.
Any further information on beIN sport’s coverage this season? Can you guys put the question in tp beIN as to whether they will have HD coverage this season, will they have multiple channels or do they have plans to go on connected devices such as Apple TV, Xbox or Chromecast. There are important questions a lot of people want answered regarding beIN after their acquisition of so many sporting properties. Why should we pay so much for SD? How can they show all the content on only one channel. People aren’t interested in paying $20 a month for a single SD channel with online coverage that works rarely.
its not SD jimbo its quite actually near HD quality..its not like crappy channel 7 showing afl its much better, it might not state HD but its prettty much 90% shot in HD, look it up..also it might not only show football and rugby but it will grow fox footy compared to bein sports now seriously bein sport kills afl handball anyday, most boring channel ever fox footy created for dumbasses on centrelink
No zwn, it’s not HD. It’s nowhere near HD. You must own a black and white tv from the 80s if you think beIN sports is close to HD. Yes the events on the channel are filmed in HD, but they are transmitted by beIN sports as crap SD that is even worse the CH7. My post was directed to Mumbrella journos, hoping they can put the questions on beIN sport to find out when HD, multi-channeling and connected devices are going to be available for us subscribers who pay $20 a month. By the way zwn, you should look into getting a HD tv, the international sport looks great on it on channels like Fox Sports, ESPN and Eurosport. Just be great if beIN sport got into the modern era any time soon.
Hi Jim,
Rest assured we are following up with BeIn, just waiting for their response. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Thanks Alex.
Hopefully BeIN will withdraw from Australia soon enough, like Setanta before it, and these sports can be on Fox Sports.
Ppl find the lamest things to complain about!! HD or SD they have the rights to show champions league matches plus an app with extra channel (I’ve been with them for years) so the choice is yours if you don’t want to miss your team playing in CL get BeIn if you can’t afford it just watch whatever games SBS broadcasts. Simple
@Ann – Fat chance that will happen. Unlike Setanta before it which was plagued by monetary issues BeIN is owned by Al Jazeera, probably the worlds most cashed up media organisation and an attitude of you take what we give and be happy.
Serge, it’s got nothing to do with being out of pocket, it’s to do with getting value for money. I have a yearly subscription to beIN sports and was previously with Setanta for years before that. The whole issue is the amount of rights beIN has bought and the lack of channels to show the content on. Everyone wants to watch sport live, not games three days later when they’ve put their score spoilers on the beIN twitter and facebook accounts. As for HD, if you don’t own a HD tv or have a HD package, then it won’t matter for you. On a 50-inch tv the picture is so grainy that’s it’s literally unwatchable. You can’t go from watching EPL or La Liga on Fox to Serie A or Bundesliga on beIN because of the poor picture quality. And as for their beIN sports connect website, that’s ok if you want to be stuck on your laptop. Any word Mumbrella on getting contact with beIN to work out their strategy going forward? You only have to look at their FB/twitter accounts to see how many disgruntled customers they have.
Just go to sleep early then if you dont want to watch you team playing for the CL League
This is a serious issue Jim raises and the ignorant responses to it show us just how sadly tolerant of poor picture quality we are in Australia. BeIn’s signal is unwatchable on a modern television. If they commit to HD I’ll subscribe immediately. Otherwise, no way.
Sad day CL leaving ESPN – picture quality was pristine.
Now beIN sports has just purchased the rights to La Liga. So that’s Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, Championship, SPL, MLS, Europa League, Champions League and multiple rugby competitions. They have to try and fit all this on one channel in SD. We’ve gone from being able to watch all these sports on multiple channels to one entity buying all the rights and not being able to show them. You only have to look at their website to see how many angry people there are about this. Wish Mumbrella would put a few questions beIN’s way …
if your an idiot and pay for foxtel $60 month to watch stupid afl and nrl then your an idiot..SD is much better than c7 coverage of gay afl..its high def SD, australia will block BEIN from going HD and having 2 channels because they know foxtel will lose couple 100k customers..just wish tpg hurry up release their box and add bein sports..
Hey Jack (or is it zwn from an earlier post?), if beIN sports goes to HD, Foxtel would actually make more money from subscriptions because you’d have to be subscribed to the HD package to get the channel. HD pack is dearer than SD. And what are you talking about high def SD? I don’t know what that means? Guessing it’s SD?? One thing I agree with you on is the connected devices, beIN definitely needs to invest in that technology.