Canada: beIN Sports channels are now available on the Shaw Direct satellite package

The pay-TV channel beIN Sports (in English) and beIN Sports ñ (in Spanish) were made available in Canada on the satellite TV platform Shaw Direct on 10/02/2015. Shaw Direct subscribers can watch these channels for free until 15/03/2015.

Besides Shaw Direct, the Qatari beIN Media Group's channels are distributed in Canada on Eastlink (cable), Bell TV (cable, satellite), MTS (ADSL), Rogers (ADSL, cable), Telus (ADSL) and Videotron (cable).

• beIN Sports has been broadcast in the United States since August 2012 and seeks to do the same in Canada, where the group has had exclusive rights to broadcast Ligue 1 (FRA), La Liga (SPA) and Serie A (ITA) since 2012.
• But Canadian law required its subsidiary, Al Jazeera, to get the support of a broadcaster that is already established in the local market before they can apply for a broadcasting license from the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission).
• To work around this problem, beIN Sports launched the Internet streaming platform beIN Sports Play (rebranded from its former name beIN Sports Connect) in Canada on…