Soccer fans wield more power than many of us realize, but only if we exercise that power.
After breaking the story this morning that beIN SPORTS had acquired the rights to the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana in the United States, our Twitter account was met with a tirade of soccer fans complaining that they don’t have access to beIN SPORTS.
While that may be true if you’re AT&T or Comcast Xfinity subscribers, we soccer fans have an opportunity to use our power to influence change.
We face three choices:
1) Grin and bear it, and continue complaining into the vortex of social media.
2) Call AT&T (DIRECTV, DIRECTV NOW and U-Verse) or Comcast, and voice your outrage that your TV provider dropped beIN SPORTS, and ask that they reinstate it.
3) Cancel your AT&T or Comcast Xfinity subscription, and go with a TV provider or streaming service that caters to soccer fans.
It’s easy as that.
If you’re locked in a contract with DIRECTV, find out how much the DIRECTV early cancellation fee is, and you may discover that it’s less than you imagine. If you want to stay with a satellite provider that offers beIN SPORTS, call DISH Network at 855-389-9730 to find out what their best offer is.
Out of all of the broadcasters in the United States, the only two that decided not to renew their distribution agreement with beIN SPORTS were Comcast and AT&T. For Comcast, it’s in their best interests to limit the distribution of beIN SPORTS because beIN’s flagship league (LaLiga) is a direct competitor to Comcast’s number one soccer league, the Premier League (Comcast owns NBC Sports). While it’s understandable why Xfinity refuses to add beIN SPORTS because of Comcast being the rights-holder and controlling much of the cable industry, it’s downright deplorable that DIRECTV has refused to renew its deal with beIN SPORTS.
After all, DIRECTV used to advertise itself as “where the world watches soccer.” But that was a long time ago when DIRECTV was the go-to place for soccer coverage.
Speaking to World Soccer Talk, beIN SPORTS’ deputy managing director for the U.S. and Canada Antonio Briceño said, “[DIRECTV] is a platform that has always claimed to be the home of sports, and also claims that they have more soccer than everyone else. We really hope that this [deal] will help DIRECTV come back to the conversation.
“We are not asking for any outrageous fees. We are not asking for anything different with distribution. We just ask them to provide them with the same deal as they’ve provided in the past. We hope that now that they’ve seen the announcement, they’re going to do what’s best for the customer who is paying them and to do what’s best for the company.”
While Briceño urges DIRECTV customers to call their satellite provider, he said “At the end of the day, we believe that the final power is always in the hands of the consumer, and that’s why we always work hard to ensure that there are other outlets of distribution out there so they don’t feel constrained.
“[Calling the satellite provider] is still the most effective way of showing their support, and telling DIRECTV ‘I’m paying you, why are you not providing me with the content I want to watch?’
“But at the end of the day, the ultimate solution is to switch. At some point, the best way to show your anger and to watch the games, there are plenty of solutions out there now that are completely legal and are synced with our plans. If you call DIRECTV and Comcast, and you don’t get any type of positive answer, then switch to another provider.”
Some of the providers who feature beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS en Español include DISH Network, Sling Latino (at $10/month), fubo Latino (at $24.99/month), Sling World Sports (at $10/month) and others. Both Sling TV and fuboTV also include access to beIN SPORTS Connect so you won’t miss a single game.
200+ Channels With Sports & News
- Starting price: $33/mo. for fubo Latino Package
- Watch Premier League, World Cup, Euro 2024 & more
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- Price: $35/mo. for Sling Blue
- Watch Premier League, World Cup & MLS
Many Sports & ESPN Originals
- Price: $9.99/mo. (or get ESPN+, Hulu & Disney+ for $13.99/mo.)
- Features Bundesliga, LaLiga, Championship, & more
2,000+ soccer games per year
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Damarys
August 25, 2019 at 2:44 pm
I like DirecTV. I’m getting tired of purchasing so many streaming services. I’m sticking to DirecTV and just watching the Barcelona games at a local bar. I rather spend my money on a drink and watch the game than spend more on TV.
Ilya
August 25, 2019 at 4:53 pm
It’s only cost 5-10$ a month to get bein. Fanatiz or sling Espanol package offer them pretty cheap. Drink will cost more than that.
Cal Tsai
June 8, 2019 at 5:24 am
I shifted from Comcast to SLING TV only for BEIN sports. Direct TV continuously calls and i say Bein is not there, do not call me. The Soccer programs – Xtra and Locker room are terrific and I cannot miss them . Unfortunately they reduced the Xtra from 7 days to 4 days and they stopped. This is the best soccer channel on Earth. We should ensure Kevin Eagan should come back
louis
April 12, 2019 at 12:23 am
implement standalone streaming for $4.99 a month and a lot of users will sing up.
even when i had comcast the sports package that had bein sport was $9.99. so i am sure the bein sports cut was less than $5.month.
Jn
April 12, 2019 at 7:45 am
I agree that they would benefit from having a stand alone streaming service as an option.
Azer
April 4, 2019 at 10:13 am
Hello JP,
Formula 1 is no longer on NBC Sports, thank God. It is on ESPN in it’s 2nd season and ESPN uses the live feed from Sky Sports F1 in the UK.
I read an article online about ESPN apologizing to Formula 1 fans in the USA for taking a commercial break during the race where Sky Sports doesn’t have commercials. Check it out yourself, it’s an interesting read.
Bselig
April 3, 2019 at 12:10 pm
FCC rejected beIN’s complaint with prejudice. Looks like the network is toast.
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/fcc-rejects-bein-add-on-carriage-complaint-against-comcast
Todd Unger
April 3, 2019 at 5:33 pm
At least in the US they are. The channel as a operation is healthy overseas thought. They’ve just did two deals with MLS for beIN Sports France and beIN Sports Australia this past week.
Yespage
April 4, 2019 at 8:31 am
Based on the article, this was about some special provision they were seeking in their third complaint. A previous complaint has yet to be resolved. Though I doubt it’ll work in beIN’s favor. NBCSN is not in competition with beIN sports, as can be seen with other broadcasters that don’t carry beIN Sports.
JP
April 4, 2019 at 9:12 am
NBCSN doesn’t carry programming that is much different than beIN at all.
Both have soccer, beIN actually has more.
Both have motor sports. Formula 1 for NBCSN and Moto GP for beIN
Both have contracts with second tier college conferences.
The biggest difference is NBCSN having the NHL (which I’m a big fan of), but even this is a niche for national TV audiences.
Without the backing of Comcast they’d be in a similar predicament as beIN in terms of carriage. Comcast can force carriage of less popular stations to less expensive tiers as a condition for the providers to carry more popular stations. beIN is stand alone and doesn’t have this negotiating leverage. But make no mistake, NBCSN and beIN aren’t as different as many make it out to be.
Christopher Harris
April 4, 2019 at 9:54 am
The one important difference that goes against beIN SPORTS is that NBCSN is owned by Comcast.
Yespage
April 5, 2019 at 9:05 am
So NBCSN has the premium brand programming and beIN Sport has the cheap generic Valutime brand. Formula 1, IndyCar, NHL, EPL v MotoGP, La Liga, Swiss Hockey? beIN Sport is missing on many carriers, not just Comcast. And I’m very far away from being a Comcast apologist. The company does enact non-competitive policies and shouldn’t both own content and be a content provider.
NaBUru38
April 5, 2019 at 9:40 am
Spanish football is cheaper than English football? MotoGP is cheaper than IndyCar?
Not an AT&T Fan
April 1, 2019 at 9:22 pm
I called DirecTV the day they dropped beIN from the air, and told them they had until the date of the following El Clasico to resolve the dispute and get the channel back on my screen. They ignored my demand, so I called them back to cut my service. I even reminded them that they were still sending me emails claiming to be the provider of choice for sports fans. I had been with them over 20 years, and despite saying they valued my loyalty (I had almost every channel they offer, which over 20 years is a lot money), they seemed quite content to let me just walk away.The old DirecTV would not have let that happen. AT&T has ruined the company.
JP
February 7, 2019 at 3:13 pm
Does anyone know if beIN upgraded the streaming from their website?
I used to not be able to use it on my work PC because it needed ‘silverlight?’ to run. Took a shot in the dark yesterday to see if I could watch the Barcs/Real match and it worked fine…..good again today for Betis/Valencia.
Jn
April 12, 2019 at 7:44 am
They got away from using creaky, old Microsoft Silverlight and updated the streaming to more modern HTML5 standards. It has improved, but there still can be issues.
Nick
January 19, 2019 at 11:53 am
I know fubo latino user to be 17.99 a month. Guess price went up. I looked into that but for me extra value wasn’t there vs sling world. I saw only upgrades being fox deportes which maybe one extra bundesliga game per day. I like that it has access to liga now but not enough games to justify extra $ I do not watch as much south American leagues which I am guessing fubo latino has
DiRT
January 19, 2019 at 11:38 am
fubo Latino is $24.99. No idea where you’re getting $17.99 from.
andres4018@gmail.com
January 19, 2019 at 1:04 am
Premier League provides de best football on planet earth. LaLiga just have Messi (not even CR7 now) and SouthAmerica football level is like Turkish, Belgium or even MLS as you saw the final last December. Only 10% of latinos are from south americas in US. A smarter move of beIn should have been get Mexican soccer league rights. No pressure from Comcast or DirecTV to get beIn back imho.
Don Chuma
April 4, 2019 at 8:24 pm
Smarter move… mexican soccer… lmfao lol lol lol lol lol
Nick
January 18, 2019 at 10:52 pm
Sling world sports package. $10 per month. Access to bein sports connect within sling app. I just extended mine actually through April 2020 pretty sure it was $45
DiRT
January 19, 2019 at 11:45 am
The family wanted YouTubeTV, so I cancelled Fubo and jumped over. It has great family features, but I was missing beIN. Sling World for $45 a year is an easy choice. Plus, I was paying for WIllow TV anyway for Cricket coverage, so that being folding into the package plus the integration of beIN overflow channels make it such a great deal.