BeIN Sports USA is an English-language pay-TV sports channel in the United States. It is owned by beIN Media Group, which also operates its Spanish-language sister channel, beIN Sports en Español.
BeIN Sports USA launched in the US ahead of the 2012/13 season, announcing itself as the new home for the Spanish La Liga. Before then, the broadcast rights for La Liga in USA had been held primarily by American soccer-themed network, GolTV. However, a higher bid from then-owners Al Jazeera changed the landscape, hence giving soccer fans new ways of following Europe’s top soccer leagues on U.S. TV.
BeIN Sports USA, which was better known as beIN Sports 1 in its early days, first made its debut on DirecTV on August 16, 2012, before joining other platforms such as Dish Network and Verizon Fios. Since then, it has covered a host of sporting events as live, delayed and repeat telecasts from different sports. Disciplines it has covered over the years include motorsports, tennis and professional wrestling, in addition to college sports.
Soccer has constituted a large part of beIN Sports USA’s programming in the past, as the network has not only aired both full and summarized games, but also match analysis and exclusive programs, including documentaries and magazine shows.
BeIN Sports USA’s history of soccer broadcast rights include top leagues such as La Liga, the French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A, Turkish Super Lig, Swiss Super League and English Championship. In the past, it has also covered domestic cup competitions such as the English League Cup, French Cup and Coupe de la Ligue, Coppa Italia and Spanish Copa del Rey.
But beIN Sports USA’s soccer coverage has gone far outside of Europe over the years. Its portfolio has been expanded over time to include continental club competitions such as the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana from the CONMEBOL region. The network has additionally provided live English-commentary broadcasts for major international tournament, including the Copa America, Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Smaller events such as the Toulon Tournament and international friendlies have also been telecast.
BeIN Sports USA’s content is made available to stream online on the network’s official TV Everywhere service, beIN Sports Connect, which comes at no extra cost to customers of participating TV providers. The latter can be used on PC, Mac and mobile devices via official Android and iOS apps. Alternatively, live streaming of beIN Sports can be done via partner OTT providers.
