(Temporary) good news, everyone!
Good news and bad news friends… you can now watch beIN Sport broadcasts here in Canada in lovely HD.
The caveats: 1) you’ll only be able to watch online, and 2) this service is free, but only until the end of the year.
The Miami-based sports network has been despised by Canadians since the day they formed as we have been unable to watch popular soccer leagues such as La Liga and Serie A due to the networks inability to get carriage in Canada.
Much has been written about the failure of beIN to provide Canadians with an option to watch the many leagues that beIN have the right to — Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1, nPower Championship, Capital One Cup, Copa del Rey and FIFA World Cup qualification games for certain CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, just to name a few.
Canada Soccer News published a fantastic article in August which revealed the CRTC has had zero communication from beIN in regards to getting their channel on Canadian televisions. World Soccer Talk interviewed a beIN deputy managing director just last month who said they were “working very hard” and that they need to find a sponsor to help deal with the very particular regulatory environment in Canada. Nearly every soccer post on this site has comments asking about what’s going on with beIN.
A few questions remain though. 1) Why are they only starting this service now and not once they realized it would take a considerable amount of time to get their network on the air? 2) How much are they going to charge for a subscription once the free trial ends January 6th?
To view the free live streaming, head to www.beinsportplay.ca to register and use the promo code ‘beINCanada’. Testing it this morning, the quality is fantastic on my TV, tablet and iPhone. Whether I want to give them my money after fucking soccer fans around for this long, and providing their oh so generous three month free trial period remains to be seen.
A Rouge Point 
Have you seen Sportnet’s EPL schedule for the next couple of months? TSN released theirs a week or two ago, but I haven’t found anything from Sportsnet.
Thanks
Here you go: http://www.sportsnet.ca/sportsnet-announces-barclays-premier-league-broadcast-schedule-through-to-december-4/
Thanks, I guess I was looking for a new announcement instead of an update to the old one.
The trial period is also a way for beIN to show potential partners, providers, and the CRTC the demand for this channel. If lots of people sign up, Bell, Rogers, and Shaw would be interested in working with them.
You are absolutely right. This is why I have subscribed, to see if the morons that run cable and satellite TV in Canada wake up
Amazing news. Finally I can watch some El Clasico and some big Italian games.
I’m wondering if it’s going to be a specialty channel or just a regular sport channel like GolTV, speaking of GOL TV, I dont think Canada can handle too many soccer channels. So lets hope Bundesliga gets shift over to Rogers or BeIN.
Very good quality but I just can’t get it to full screen on my tablet!!! Lets hope they come up with an app soon just like SNWO.
The word “sponsor”, if that is a direct quote, would imply that they are looking to follow the path of getting onto the approved non-Canadian channels list. They first need to get a Canadian carrier to “sponsor” their application and agree to carry the channel if approved. But that would also involve demonstrating the channel will not be direct competition for an existing Canadian channel, the same type of regulation that stops ESPN, NBC Sports Network, Fox Sports 1 and 2 from being directly available in Canada.
Speaking of Fox Sports and Speed, the World Endurance Championship Series (the series that includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans as one of its only eight races a year) recently had its sole round in North America, at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin Texas. It was shown live on Fox Sports 1, but not seen on Speed in Canada live or even tape delayed, despite that channel still having the large majority of its schedule comprised of filler reruns and those endlessly repeated small number of promos instead of commercials. I have no idea why Fox would refuse to show this to Canadians (unless maybe someone like beIN quietly bought the Canadian TV rights to stop us seeing it). And I wonder if the Canadian carriers are even paying attention to the situation with Speed if they’re not trying to replace it with a better motorsports channel by early 2014.
Would like to be a member
Will your tv listing now show events that will be broadcast on beINsport?
I don’t know. That didn’t even cross my mind. I usually don’t put in online-only broadcasts (which is basically EPL on TSN and SN), but maybe I’ll start doing it just for soccer.
Quality seems to be SD widescreen for me, though that could be bandwidth-related (I’m on Telus 25).
I am Canadian and I do not despise beIN sport. I despise Rogers for destroying Sportsnet Soccerworld….oops I mean Sportsnet World (formerly Sentanta). I subscribed to that channel for the rugby coverage (union and league) and GAA. The coverage of those sports has steadily declined, unless staying up until 3 in the morning to watch delayed coverage of an improtant international match that will not be replayed is considered great coverage. Of course I could try and record the game, oh wait, I did. It turns out the schedule did not match and my PVR only recorded a half of the match, but it did record some nice filler material, if you care about what happened in the Premier League in 1997 (I do not). But I guess I am in a minority. Canadians must only watch soccer and hockey.
Absolutely right on – I just signed up for SN World to see the 6 Nations and some Aviva league and then find out they don’t own the rights, beIN does, but beIN aren’t showing ANY rugby in Canada – what sort of stupidity is that??
A year ago, I was so like, “Screw you beIn, I’m never gonna order your channel after what you did to us soccer fans”. Now, the second I read this article, I went to their website and signed up, while wiping away drool. I am awful at standing by my principles. :)
You can watch baseball basketball hockey cricket for free and no problem.
When it comes to soccer, the fans gets disappointed every time!! Why the most famous sports in the world won’t play for free in ficking Canada?
By the way, where do I find the promo code ?
To view the free live streaming, head to http://www.beinsportplay.ca to register and use the promo code ‘beINCanada’.
Went there 5 minutes before kickoff & got the Spanish commentary.
After clicking away to find (the certifiable) Ray Hudson could not only not get a stream but could only access the sign in screen (and no more) about half the time. These internet errors went on consistently throughout the first half and well into the second half. After I was ready to give up & go to the uninspiring roster of noon NCAA FB games on the super sports pack, I finally got the stream in the 76th minute.
If they expect me to pay a fee when the free preview ends, this hardly gives me confidence to do so. If I had paid & missed most of El Classico, I would be enraged.
Checked a few hours later & now get a stream within seconds. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given the ongoing disaster that is BeInSports Canada & our conscientious gatekeeper – the CRTC. And speaking of the CRTC, we are unable to see Messi/Ronaldo/Ibrahimovic/Balotelli et al but we are able to see the pitiful fare on Euro World Sports which seemingly consists of endless loops of 30 year old World Cup Highlights featuring the likes of Maradona & Platini. The only live football I’ve ever seen there was some teenage girls playing on some dusty pitch in the Caribbean in front of 100 spectators.
So Barca/Real/Juve/Milan/PSG NO, Caribbean schoolgirls YES!
But isn’t this just a perfect parallel to the first class Toronto FC & the Canadian Men’s National Team.
I suggest you to go to the Bein sports web page and leave a message for them asking them to correct that. I had the chance to watch the game in the Spanish stream and they keep promoting the Canadian web page. They know that most of people in Canada speak English so I presume they want to make sure the English stream is available. I do not believe that their idea is to make you pay to watch live on internet, but to convince one of our stupid Canadians carriers that it is worth having. And if worse comes to worst I prefer to watch on line live Messi/Ronaldo/Ibrahimovic/Balotelli in a language I do not understand than to watch in my TV set in a language I understand some teenage girls playing on some dusty pitch in the Caribbean in front of 100 spectators. Freedom to choose has its price! If you stop supporting the channels our carriers force us to pay for, they may wake up.
FWIW they apologized to Canadian viewers both at HT and early in 2H. My stream was perfect, uninterrupted. Given the crap officiating, I rather wish I missed it.
When I click on the link, it says that is currently not available in my country. I’m in Canada WTF??
Hey, anyone try streaming on the s4 because it isn’t working for me in the list of devices that are compatible for samsung it only has the s2 and s3 but figured the s4 would work any thoughts??
Finally we can watch the soccer that we want. We were an exception in the whole world that we couldn’t watch La Liga. Welcome BeIn Sports
yes its good
Finally have my Barca back and with my Apple Tv I am easliy streamng to my big screen crystal clear Aesome!!!! Shaw wake up and get on board!!
beINCanada promo code doesn’t work. has it changed? any body know what it is? and why ask for a promo code for a free subscription anyways.
I think the free promo is over
It is over. I received an-email from Beinsports saying that suscription to the on-line transmissions costs $19 and cents per month. My reply was: I am not interested, too expensive.
You can now watch it on Bell TV (Satellite) channel 1412.
Same thing in Bell Fibe
When is it on Rogers I wonder?
It’s available on Rogers as well. Just noticed it this morning when i was setting up my weekend matches and saw a La Liga game. Shocked, I drifted my eyes to the left margin and saw BEin 391. Brilliant.
Thank you BEin for broadcasting last weekends six nations rugby internationals. I am a confessed rugby addict and originally subscribed to Setanta to get my regular fix. Since the channel was taken over by Rogers and morphed into SportsNet World it has annoyed me with its inconsistent coverage of the cause of my addiction. If BEin continues to cover rugby I can foresee cancelling my subscription to SportsNet World
I have read all the comments as it’s difficult on the iPhone however, Bein Sports is available on channel 391 on Rogers for those who don’t know.
hi no portuguese soccer? go to bars in portuguese comunity and u will see lots people there to see the games because we just have a free game a week u can make good money giving those games
For those who love Rugby 6 Nations:
France vs Ireland on Saturday at 1:00 pm I believe on Rogers TV5 channel 103. It’s in French from Paris. Great commentary from the enthusiastic French who are totally biased. I don’t understand a word but you can tell when the Irelande score and win the 6 Nations!
im a loyal fun now watch it on bell, i just found out over two weeks ago and I’m hooked, Can’t wait for this weekends game
BARCA-real madrid,
4-0 BARCA
thanks beIN
According to someone who spoke with a Bell CSR, this channel will be available for $15.99 after April 22nd.
So that’ll be $9.95 for the package that includes TSN2/HD; $17.99 for SNWL and then $15.99 for BeIN!
Equaling just under $44/mth just so i can watch the odd match here and there. Sheeesh!
I’d be cool with picking up bein sports for 12-15$ because they have great soccer coverage…for 15.99$ they have a lot of work to do. bein play is amazing but I think it is totally separate from the channel. An app would be great for Canadians like SN World. Would also be great if they started creating some Canadian content for the channel, and Im not talking about Soccer Central style BS! But I guess no need to stress …. It’s a World Cup summer! CBC=free!
Canadian content? What sort of Canadian content would benefit a European Sports channel?
I fully agree. Sports channels with Canadian content are available in other channels like TSN, the Sports Network Fox Sports World and perhaps in others, that are available with the usual cable or satellite Canadian providers. On the other hand, the soccer events those channels present are less interesting than the ones BeinSports show.
I would definitely not say that they’re less interesting. but that depends on which league you follow the most. I’m a big Liverpool fan, so I love the fact that i have a number of outlets via the few channels that you’ve mentioned above. Currently, Football Today has to be the best show out there for highlights and matchday reviews. What i do like about beIn though, is the fact that you get proper pre & post match analysis. And the ’90 in 30′ matches are a brilliant idea.
Seems like SHAW is always the last to get the latest HD sports channels.