Foxtel has responded to losing the rights to the English Premier League, announcing a deal with beIN Sports that will see them broadcast the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Europa League and Serie A to their subscribers from May 15.
After being pipped by Optus for the rights to the EPL in November last year, questions surrounded Foxtel’s football offering, now headed by their A-League coverage.
This new deal is a great win for all those who have the Foxtel Sports package, as it will provide subscribers with three beIN Sports-branded channels for no extra cost.
beIN had previously snapped up rights to the Champions League, Europa League and La Liga and Serie A, all of which were broadcast by Foxtel in the past. The Champions League final and Europa League final will both be live on beIN Sports, as will the Wallabies’ spring tour.
A beIN Sports subscription on Foxtel previously cost $19.99 per month or $199.99 a year, on top of a Foxtel Sports package, which comes at a minimum cost of $50 per month.
The new beIN sports channels will also be available on Foxtel’s Play and Go services for those who livestream their subscription.
Any current subscriber to beIN Sports will get a refund for any payments already made for after the May 15 deadline.
There’s no doubt this is a direct response to Optus’ announcement of their English Premier League coverage earlier this month, where they announced they will broadcast the League over Fetch TV, with up to ten sub-channels simultaneously broadcasting games.
While SBS does show a select number of games on free-to-air TV, beIN Sports has the rights to all matches for both the Europe League and Champions League tournaments.
It’s made the race for football coverage in this country particularly juicy, with the A-League rights coming up for renewal soon. Talks for the new deal are set to start next month (April) with commercial networks reportedly hovering around the league currently broadcast by Foxtel and SBS.
Foxtel has long been committed to football coverage, as has beIN over the course of its journey from Setanta Sports to its current guise.
The Qatari-based broadcaster has previously only been available in Australia as part of a separate subscription, but as of the 15th will be included in the Foxtel sports package without any additional cost.
“The addition of these new dedicated sports channels from our partners at beIN is a huge win for sports fans who subscribe to Foxtel, greatly increasing the value of a subscription,” said Foxtel’s outgoing chief executive, Richard Freudenstein.
“There is no doubt Foxtel is the home of live sport in Australia.”
Brave words from Richard.
What’s on the Fox?
UEFA Champions League
Spanish La Liga
German Bundesliga
French Ligue 1
Italian Serie A
Scottish Professional Football League
USA Major League Soccer
English Championship
A-League
Europa League
Asian Champions League
Club World Cup
Football Internationals (and friendlies)
Wallabies’ spring tour
Paul
Guest
Yeah watch the scottish, mls ,french leagues
Graham
Guest
BeIn and Optus are Broadcasters not content producers. If any of them purchased the A-League they would also need to purchase a production team/Cameras/Commentators. To me this would be a massive exodnse, the only feasible way would be to partner with a FTA channel and have that channel produce the content.
Foxy bingo
Guest
Rob, Brisy, have foxtel got right to the Football league championship then!!!
Lionheart
Guest
Optus could offer an EPL or Sports only app, on smart TV or other device for a few $ per month. I don't know what would be fair, but I'd pay maybe up to $10, not much different to Netflix, and keep Foxtel too. That would be good.
Victor
Guest
Great news all round. PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio, Celtic, Rangers, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund etc are all on Foxtel next season. Who needs EPL when you can see big matches such as the Old Firm and El Clasico as well as UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League from Augus all in HD!. It's going to be a big summer of football next season.
Queries
Guest
Great news! I don't care about english league anyway, the teams are crap and boring!
Daniel T
Roar Rookie
Hahaha yep. I just told mine that I was reconsidering my plan to cancel our Foxtel subscription at the end of this season (she barely watches TV) and she rolled her eyes
Lionheart
Guest
It's not about comparing across league, like Bacrelona v Man City or whoever, but rather how hard is each game in the league. I think it's widely acknowledged that the teams in the EPL are far more evenly matched than the teams in La Liga. Maybe the A League's one of the most evenly matched around, as you would expect with the salary cap.
Midfielder
Guest
Sydney This deal will also show lots of Rugby from Europe and provide Rugby 12 months of the year. The six nations in Europe and European Champions League in rugby are arguably bigger than the Tri Nations and Super Rugby we have in Australia. WE as a group often say AFL and NRL folk know little about Football ... we should not make the same mistake about Rugby ... Rugby is a large international sport and the European and Japanese sides pay more in salaries than the Super Rugby...
AZ_RBB
Guest
Can't wait to see this in action. So much football, all the time is never a bad thing.
Steve
Guest
Please. For a starters Aston Villa are a walkover for every side is season. Secondly Barcelona were pretty comfortable with Arsenal both home and away (as they were with Man City the past two years). While we will never know, I suspect Barcelona (and Bayern) would be comfortable against most EPL sides and would batter a good proportion of those also.
SM
Guest
You're wrong about Italy. Yes, Juventus are the standout side, but beyond that the league is extremely competitive for European spots and further down the table.
david
Guest
Yes. Go Barca!
Lionheart
Guest
Agreed too.
Lionheart
Guest
yeah, my wife's not gonna' like this
Lionheart
Guest
Well I don't know as I don't get the chance to watch them all. But certainly the EPL is far more competitive than the Spanish league. Every game is hard, and there's no such thing as a 'gimme'. Is the Budesliga as close? It's not in Holland (according to louis Van Gaal), not in Spain nor Italy where just a couple of teams dominate year on year.
Mark
Guest
As a current BeIN subscriber, the Championship gets reasonably good coverage on BeIN as well since games are typically earlier in the day than those in Italy and Spain.
lester
Guest
So exactly like what happens in american then. Get a league pass if you want more.
Sydneysider
Guest
"What makes me smile is we have in Optus an beIn sport essentially two new players into the market place but even more is both appreciate Football .." agreed Midfielder.
Midfielder
Guest
What makes me smile is we have in Optus an beIn sport essentially two new players into the market place but even more is both appreciate Football .. This means the conversation is not with former players from other codes ... I would not be surprised if beIn sport bid for the rights and then on sold to Fox, Optus and a commercial FTA...