Al Jazeera’s beIN Sport French pay-television sports service, which launched last month, already has “several hundred thousand” customers, according to Charles Biétry, beIN Sport’s vice-president.
Biétry, speaking to the Agence France-Presse news agency, said early figures had “exceeded expectations”, but refused to confirm reports that the service had 400,000 customers, saying that it would be another six months until subscription figures are confirmed.
“The signs are very, very good and there are several hundred thousand subscribers,” he said. “It is very difficult to extrapolate the figures from each operator, but what is certain is that they are better than expected.”
BeIN Sport 1 launched on June 1 and sister channel BeIN Sport 2 is scheduled to launch on July 28.
Biétry also said that he thought rival pay-television operator Canal Plus would not suffer from the emergence of beIN Sport.
“I do not believe at all that Canal Plus will see its revenue decline and its subscribers leave,” Biétry said, adding that the two services should be “very complementary.”