Iconic scenes mimicking Zinedine Zindane’s outrageous volley in 2002, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dramatic winner in 1999 and Real Madrid’s La Decima will no longer be screened on free-to-air Australian televisions this season unless a contingency deal is brokered.
UEFA documents released publicly have revealed that Al Jazeera’s beIN Media Group have seized exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League, the Europa League, and Super Cup for the next three seasons in Oceania.
The move ends public broadcaster SBS’s long held mantle as the king of European football coverage, which has slowly waned over the last decade after the loss of English Premier League rights to Foxtel.
It is the end of an era, with SBS covering the Champions League for the past 20 years, and will put further doubt on whether the FIFA World Cup and other football competitions will continue to be screened on the ‘home of football’ in the long term.
While the move away from Australia’s football flagship is a blow for SBS fans, the same cannot not be said about ESPN missing out on the deal.
ESPN coverage of the Champions League has never truly been able to deliver the crisp and quality commentary and analysis of its competitors, and beIN Sports should be well placed to produce a more enjoyable product.
The Copa America rights swapped hands from SBS to beIN Sports Australia for the first time this year and the coverage was reportedly impressive. Hopefully the same will be said about their handling of the world’s biggest club competition.
Another upside is that all games will be broadcast live, with beIN Sports’ internet channel, beIN Sports Connect, providing a platform for every single match – from qualification play-offs to the final.
Whereas ESPN’s coverage often focused on a English Premier League-dominated agenda, and SBS showed the game of the week, subscribers will now be able to follow whichever team they wish, and seek out the more entertaining and niche fixtures.
However, the extra $19.99 expected to be charged for the service on top of existing Foxtel contracts is a bit steep given the broadcast will be in standard definition. If they can upgrade to high definition then fair play, but otherwise it feels a bit excessive.
Unfortunately for SBS this downgrade in football coverage has been earmarked ever since the Abbott government announced hefty cuts to the public broadcaster. Speculation was already mounting in March.
The move may also spark fresh rumours about SBS’s future football coverage, with their A-League contract running down in 2017. The long-held FIFA World Cup rights will no doubt be something they will try to hold onto.
Details over the cost or length of beIN Sports’ new deal are yet to be confirmed, and it is still possible that SBS may open talks with them to arrange a similar deal they held with ESPN. However, given beIN Sports’ chance for exclusivity, it would appear unlikely.
It is a shame for football fans who have slowly watched as SBS’s football coverage diminished more and more. For those who grew up with football before the A-League rolled around, it is another sad nail in the coffin.
The recent FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage showed that SBS can still provide some of the best sport coverage in the country, while their handling of the Champions League is all many fans know. Waking up midweek at 4:30am and joining Craig Foster and the crew has long been a tradition among football fanatics.
Sadly, the scenes of Lionel Messi mesmerising Camp Nou or Pep Guardiola manically directing his Bayern troops may never grace SBS screens again.
PK
Guest
This is frustrating. This was the only thing I was watching in ESPN. How could they expect us to pay additional $19 per month for one channel.
tony caro
Guest
what has happened to Aussie football fans this year is just heartbreaking... The consumer comes last. BEIN. one SD channel and extra $20 on top of Fox subs. Who are they kidding? I am cancelling my Fox sub entirely it's the only real reason to have one. The Portuguese League? What an insult to your fans intelligence. Why have politicians and business allowed this travesty it's the World Game for goodness sake. Not here it seems. Where are my knitting needles?
Billy
Guest
You can always watch sport illegally and you can't shut down the internet
Jimbo
Guest
You watch bein will get the prem league and fox sports will lose 100s of customer unlike you like boring nfl and afl at least bein has diff leagues to enjoy I'd rather have sbs show more football but looks like the gov will kill football with limiting sbs great more afl how riveting , isn't it a cba piracy that bein sport isn't in HD where all over the world it is, something funky is going on, la liga will be brought by bein very soon can't see other channels making an offer , I'd wake up to see barce on gem. At 4:30 but doubt that
george
Guest
what about this then? http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2015/07/24/sbs-secures-uefa-champions-league-next-three-years
Jedi
Guest
All right Foxtel have replied and said no CL coverage. They 'apologise'for that. Thats the response.
Jedi
Guest
Ive asked Foxtel on their FB page if they have lost it but no answer yet. scew beIN. Not even in HD. I have Foxtel for rugby and league as well as EPL.
Bondy
Guest
Jedi That's pretty much where I'm at. I'm not paying more subscription fees for anything , I'll be steaming these games live off the net . BeIN have to be rational with football punters we're not mugs especially when we can get it for free "with mild buffering" ... Off topic partially I only have Fox Sports for the A League and Horse Racing other than that service is futile .
Jedi
Guest
Thats what annoyed me the most about beIN is the lack of channel options and no HD streaming,. Once you go HD for sports you never go back . I feared beIN wouild get a major event like the Champions league and its happened. Poor quality picture for an extra 20 bucks a month is poor return. They are owned and funded by the Qatari government which means they have hundreds of millions if not billions to outbid Foxtel for everything. Could you imagine the EPL on one channel in SD quality. That could happen. The EPL comes up for negotiation in a couple of years I think.
Jedi
Guest
How are foxtel in strife ? The internet still cant mimic the HD quality from their satellite service. They have the NRL and have just signed another massive deal with them. They have a dedicated channel to AFL and 80% of the games in HD like he NRL. They have the Super 15 and all Rugy tests and world cups. They have the EPL and Spanish La Lagi. A-League ? LOL seen better at primary school matches.
Jedi
Guest
Does this mean that ESPN on Foxtel has lost the right to show them in Aus ??????????????? I just cancelled my beIN subscription because I wasn't watching the channel enough and it wasn't in HD !!! This annoys me because I am paying for HD quality streams on Foxtel which has ESPN in HD only for beIN snaffle it. Its not even in HD !! I already pay 70 dollars a month for Foxtel HD and now I have fork out another 20 for beIN ? I'll download the games of torrents.
Neil
Guest
It is hard not to be political in this, the previous Government supported football via funding of SBS, seed money for WSW and lobby money to get the World Cup here in Australia which unfortunately was not successful due to alleged FIFA corruption. Football gets very poor funding from all levels of Government historically compared to the other codes and since the new mob came to power we have lost Women's football on ABC and look like losing football on SBS and they show very little public support for football compared to the other codes. The Howard Liberal Government's intervention in football turned the game around, the Rudd Labor Government supported the World Cup bid, the Gillard Labor Government seeded WSW, it is time for the Abbott Liberal government to show its support for the game. Football issues probably will not affect my vote one way or the other but politicians should take note their current actions have been noticed by some.
Justin Mahon
Guest
I just replaced my increasingly shit ADSL2+ for $70pm with Optus Fetch Cable TV/Internet for $90pm. I was therefore able to dump Foxtel's 'Entertainment Pack' saving me $25pm. Net result - I have very fast internet and the same Pay TV options for $5pm LESS than I was paying previously. I mention this because beIN access is on Fetch TV also, and as soon as I can get an A-League IPTV subscription (direct from the FFA, other or on beIN) it is goodbye Foxtel - saving me a further $30-50pm depending on the cost of the service. The Fetch TV system eliminates two remotes and the box also fully integrates my private media library (video, iTunes and pictures on OneDrive), YouTube, the FTA catch-up TV services, IPTV subscriptions and a bunch of very cool things too. It's vastly superior to the Foxtel one. Foxtel are in strife. I hope that this means they 'pay up' big time for the A-League in 2017 and beyond. They are cooked otherwise.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
During the Group Stage of Uefa Champions League there are 8 matches that kick-off simultaneously, apart from matches hosted in Russia which kick off earlier due to the eastern time zone. BeIN Sport have 1 channel. Do the maths.
midfielder
Guest
SVB What can I say you nailed it on SBS
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Agree oly. only ppl who have never lived in Europe think domestic leagues are everywhere on FTA. Only some cup games and (in the past) mid week European matches, were broadcast live on FTA, plus the NT of course, but not one single regular season game. These days even not all WC games are live on FTA, same with UCL and other cups. Its possible a few regional channels (the Basque one used too in the early 2000s) may still show some live games but overall, most western euro countries do not show regular season games on fta and haven't done so for a long long time (if ever).
Midfielder
Guest
Fuss Looks like the Roar have a local buyer as per media releases last week. Mariners appointed a new CEO and a had an expert Football consultant and between them they have turned the club around. Jerks have at least one but I have heard more interested buyers... 9 chasing hard, 7 warming and 10 interested in broadcasting the A-League Now we have both Socceroos and Matildas both ratings and soon I believe the mens U 23 team Heading for a 12 team 33 round, + FFA Cup, + ACL, + A-League Finals, + W-League... Crowd average around 13K... Tis a good time to be around the evolution continues...
oly
Guest
Look at England, there are no EPL games on free to air and not even all the games are shown on pay TV (no Saturday 3pm games are televised). BBC only have the FA Cup and home England qualifiers, so this idea that Europe has a stack of FTA football isn't true.
oly
Guest
Nine would work well as long as games wouldn't be relegated to Gem or Go if they didn't rate well straight away. I know everyone now has digital TV, but just look at how many people were unable to watch the Ashes because it was on Gem. I would also love the FTA game to be on Saturday night so our blockbuster clashes could be seen by a wider audience. THat would also means there would be no issue when the NRL season started in March and they had Friday night games.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Middy I'm hearing the same things. Nine Network now (finally) understand the power of football & they want in. It seems the phenomenal global conversation generated by the Women's WC - remember these are semi-professional athletes, who were largely anonymous 6 weeks ago - has caused media & marketing in AUS to sit up & take notice of the huge potential for football in AUS compared to the other sports that have no room for significant growth. The Nine Network is broadcasting around 25 matches LIVE across AUS over the next 3 weeks. Friday night & Saturday night A-League on the Nine Network - I'd be happy with that. PS: Ch9 have already broadcast 2 matches from the USA this week, with David Zdrilic as the studio co-ordinator. Worked very well - uninterrupted coverage. Very professional.