NEW YORK (AP) — Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s league matches will disappear from the television sets of many American soccer fans, starting this weekend.
That’s because the U.S. television rights to Spain’s La Liga have switched from GolTV to the new beIN Sport USA network, launched this week by the Al-Jazeera Sport Media Network and available in only about 8 million homes to viewers of DirecTV and DISH Network.
And it’s not just Spain’s soccer that is affected.
Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, England’s second-tier League Championship and England’s League Cup also have moved to high-spending beIN Sport, which is taking over all of them from News Corp.’s Fox Soccer.
