The MP & Silva agency has announced that it has reached an agreement with Al Jazeera to launch beIN Sport, the Qatari pay-television broadcaster’s sports pay-television service, in Indonesia.
Three beIN Sport-branded channels will launch from July 1, including beIN Sport 3 Premier League HD, which the agency said would provide rolling coverage of the top tier of English football with up to 40 hours of live programming per week.
MP & Silva added that BeIN Sport 1 HD and BeIN Sport 2 HD would also show live coverage of the Premier League, plus coverage of Italian football’s top-tier Serie A and Ligue 1, the top division in France, as well as other content.
The new agreement supersedes the agency’s original plan of launching a bouquet of four channels itself, which included a Premier league channel and a football channel.
Pay-television operators Orange TV and NexMedia will carry all of the new channels from the outset. BeIN Sport 1 HD and beIN Sport 2 HD will also be carried by pay-television operator NexMedia from July 1. The broadcasters had acquired a package of rights from MP & Silva earlier in the year, which included all live football matches in the agency’s portfolio.
“Expansion into the Asia market has been a priority objective for beIN Sport and in particular we have been keen to be involved in the growth potential of pay TV in Indonesia,” beIN Sport chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi said.
MP & Silva chief executive Andrea Radrizzani added: “BeIN Sport is a consolidated and successful international broadcaster with an excellent track record of delivering high quality sports programmes. Most importantly, we believe that sports fans across Indonesia will appreciate and welcome the introduction of the fastest growing sports channel brand today, with their expertise in sports television production.”