Telecommunications company Orange has sealed a carriage deal for pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera’s new sports channels in France. The channels – BeIN Sport 1, which will launch on June 1, and BeIN Sport 2, which will launch on August 10 – will effectively replace the telco’s Orange Sport pay-television channel, which will close on June 30.
Orange also said that it is in talks with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus about the sale of some of Orange Sport’s media rights.
Orange’s director of content, Serge Laroye, said that Al Jazeera’s channels would be available within the telco’s sports package, which already includes pay-television channels Eurosport and ESPN.
Orange had tried and failed to find a buyer for Orange Sport before deciding to close it.
Orange has also agreed a deal for its sports news channel, Orange Sport Info, to be operated by media company Media365. The channel will be renamed Sport365. Orange will continue to carry the channel on its pay-television platform.
Meanwhile, according to French newspaper l’Equipe, Canal Plus’s Foot Plus pay-television football service, which was expected to close at the end of the 2011-12 season, is now set to remain open beyond this summer. The newspaper said that Foot Plus would continue to offer coverage of English Premier League, German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A football matches.