Foxtel appeases football fans with new channels
Foxtel have announced they will add three new sport channels – beIN SPORTS 1, 2 and 3 – to their package from May 15.
The channels, which largely show football and rugby, will become part of the subscription service’s basic sports package.
One beIN SPORTS channel was previously available to Foxtel subscribers, but for an additional cost.
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All three channels will be available in HD and the addition will significantly increase Foxtel’s football output.
beIN SPORTS will show more than 25 football tournaments additional to Foxtel’s existing coverage, including this year’s Euro 2016.
They also show popular domestic leagues such as La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany) and the Championship (England).
The news means Foxtel viewers will be able to watch some of the world’s biggest clubs, like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Leeds United, on a regular basis.
beIN SPORTS also shows the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, the Six Nations rugby competition and fixtures involving the Wallabies and All Blacks.
The announcement comes as a boost for football fans after Foxtel lost the rights to the English Premier League to Optus.
Optus announced earlier this month that they will run a 24-7 football channel, based solely on English Premier League, on their subscription TV platform, Optus TV with Fetch.
That channel – and 10 sub-channels – will show live matches, while free-to-air channel SBS will screen one match per weekend.