beIN Sports (American TV channel)

BeIN Sports USA is an American pay television sports channel that launched on August 16, 2012. It is part of the BeIN Sports family of channels, a subsidiary of the Qatari-based BeIN Media Group.

BeIN Sports USA primarily airs soccer; featuring coverage of Ligue 1, along with other leagues in Europe. The channel also airs rugby, auto racing, handball, motorcycle racing, tennis and volleyball. A companion network, beIN Sports en Español, carries simulcasts or alternate programming primarily in Spanish, with both networks offering secondary Spanish or English commentary via the second audio program option.

As of December 2023, BeIN Sports is available in 8.97 million households in the United States that subscribe to a pay television service, while beIN Sports en Español is available in 6.152 million.

History

BeIN Sports launched via DirecTV on August 16, 2012, coinciding with the start of the European soccer leagues 2012–13 season.[citation needed] The network would later launch on Dish Network the following day[citation needed], Comcast on September 6, 2012[citation needed] and Verizon FiOS in March 2013.[citation needed]

In 2016, BeIN Sports reached a deal with Conference USA to carry select football, basketball, baseball and softball games.[citation needed] This agreement ended after the 2018–19 season and was not renewed.[citation needed] Also in 2016, BeIN Sports began showing matches from the North American Soccer League.[citation needed]

In August 2018, several major television providers dropped the network; including AT&T (both DirecTV and U-verse), Verizon Fios and Xfinity.

In October 2018, the WTA Tour returned its broadcast rights back to Tennis Channel. Its contract with BeIN Sports (as part of a wider international deal) was criticized by fans for limiting the reach of its events due to inconsistent and intermittent scheduling (with scheduling conflicts favoring its soccer coverage) and declining carriage.

Based on numbers from Nielsen, beIN Sports was ranked as the lowest-rated broadcast or cable network in the United States in 2021 based on total viewers, with a 40% decline year-over-year.

Programming

Current

European soccer

• France: Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Trophée des Champions
• Turkey: Süper Lig
• Portugal: Taça de Portugal
• Poland: Ekstraklasa

South American soccer

• Copa Libertadores
• Copa Sudamericana
• Recopa Sudamericana

African soccer

• Africa Cup of Nations
• Women's Africa Cup of Nations
• CAF Champions League
• CAF Confederation Cup

North American soccer

• El Salvador: Primera División

Basketball

• Canada: Basketball Super League
• Mexico: CIBACOPA

Talk/Debate Show (in Spanish only)

• Xtra Time

Professional wrestling

• Major League Wrestling TV Specials (2023–present)

Combat sports

• BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle Fighting
• One Championship (Friday fights only)

Former

European soccer

• Spain: Copa del Rey (exclude final) (until 2018–19)
• France: Coupe de la Ligue (until 2019–20), Coupe de France (through 2022)
• Sweden: Swedish Cup (semifinals and final)
• Spain: La Liga 2012–2021
• Italy: Serie A 2012–2017
• England: EFL Cup 2012–2015
• Austria: ÖFB Cup (final only)

Basketball

• Europe: Basketball Champions League

Handball

• EHF Champions League

Professional Wrestling

• MLW Fusion (2018–2023)
• MLW Fusion: Alpha (2021)

Motorsports

• MotoAmerica (2016, 2017 and 2018)
• FIA World Rallycross Championship (WRX)
• SBK Superbike 2012–2018
• W Series
• World Touring Car Cup
• FIM Speedway Grand Prix

Tennis

• ATP World Tour 250

Gaelic games

• Gaelic Athletic Association

Commentators

Effective January 22, 2024, beIN Sports USA/Canada talent in English and Spanish are based at MEDIAPRO Mexico studio in Mexico City, Mexico unless otherwise indicated below. Most talent who were based at MEDIAPRO US studio in Miami, Florida, US were released as of January 31, 2024.

Hosts

English:

• Ramón Barrenechea (Lead: studio and voice-only)
• Rodrigo del Campo (Studio and voice-only)
• Daniel Noriega (Off-camera voice-only)
• Carlos Reynoso (Off-camera voice-only)

Spanish:

• Claudia García (Lead, studio)
• Daniela Noguéz (Studio)
• Ramón Barrenechea (Studio and voice-only)
• Rodrigo del Campo (Studio and voice-only)
• Rafael Gómez (Off-camera voice-only)

Play-by-Play

English:

• Ramón Barrenechea (Lead)

• Rodrigo Del Campo

• Carlos Reynoso

Spanish:

• Oscar Francisco Cano (Lead)

• Fernando Cevallos

• Andrés Terán

• Angel Jiménez
• Xavier Sol
• Ramón Barrenechea
• Ángel Quirarte
• Diego Beltrán Ramírez
• Esteban Cristancho Medina
• Luis Mario Sauret

Match Analysts / Studio Pundits

Spanish:

• Oscar Francisco Cano
• Fernando Cevallos
• Andrés Terán
• Armando Melgar
• Rodrigo Del Campo
• Ramón Barrenechea
• Ángel Jiménez
• Rafael Gómez
• Gerardo Velázquez
• Ángel Quirarte
• Diego Beltrán Ramírez
• Esteban Cristancho Medina
• Luis Mario Sauret

BeIN Sports Xtra/en Español

In 2019, BeIN Sports launched BeIN Sports Xtra, a FAST channel extension featuring select free sporting events and related programming. Like the main network, Xtra also has a complementary Spanish service, beIN Sports Xtra en Español (beIN Sports Xtra ñ).

The service is available on FuboTV, Sling TV, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Vizio, Redbox, Samsung TV Plus, Fanatiz, Klowd TV and Xumo. Xtra is also carried on over-the-air television stations in select markets.

Affiliates