Al Jazeera, Seeking U.S. Viewers, Bets on Soccer

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/sports/soccer/al-jazeera-bets-heavily-on-soccer-on-us-tv.html

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Al Jazeera, once known in the United States mostly for televising videos of Americans and others taken hostage in foreign countries, but now a serious presence as a worldwide network, is betting heavily on sports to win American viewers.

This month, an Al Jazeera subsidiary, beIN Sport, bought the rights to broadcast some of the United States national soccer team’s games as it seeks to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. BeIN Sport has also paid heavily to show in the United States some of Europe’s best soccer from Spain, Italy, France and England.

BeIN Sport’s bold entry into the American market befits its deep-pocketed owners, who appear committed to becoming a major player in soccer, the globe’s most popular sport. It could make an even bigger splash if it bids in the coming months for the rights to broadcast England’s Premier League in the United States, where the league has a growing and devoted following, as well as Major League Soccer, whose broadcast rights expire in 2014.

It is unclear whether the network’s buying spree is designed to make money, to raise its global brand or to perhaps provide leverage to get United States exposure for its news network. To date, Al Jazeera’s English-language news service has gained only a tiny foothold in the American market, but it could use its growing prominence in sports broadcasting to compel cable providers to carry its news programming.

Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, clearly has the resources to be a player. The network receives funds from the Qatari government, which spent lavishly to win the bid to host the World Cup in 2022.

“The old dinosaurs are dying off, and the new sports fans are more than willing to accept soccer,” said Phil Schoen, an announcer who was hired by beIN Sport after stints at ESPN and GolTV. “It’s not just the ethnics, soccer moms and urban singles. To make such a commitment really says something about how beIN Sport feels about the future of the sport in this country.”

BeIN Sport declined to make available any executives to speak on the record about its broader strategy.

Initially, beIN Sport may cause headaches for United States soccer fans. So far, the network is carried only on DirecTV and Dish, the country’s two largest satellite television providers, and Comcast, the country’s largest cable network. But in many cases, customers will have to pay several dollars more a month to subscribe to an extra sports package that includes beIN Sport, which only a small fraction of customers do.

While beIN Sport is rushing to sign other distribution deals, it may be months if not years before fans throughout the country can see the network in their homes. Until then, many fans will have to find a local bar to see the American national team play World Cup qualifying games on the road, including matches against Jamaica in Kingston on Sept. 7 and in Antigua on Oct. 12.

Quickly, beIN Sport has upended the sports television landscape. The network is committed to covering international sports like soccer, rugby, volleyball and track and field. In that sense, it is unlikely to rival ESPN, CBS or the other major American networks that pay billions of dollars to carry baseball, football and basketball.

But in spending heavily for the rights to Europe’s top soccer leagues and some of the United States national team’s games, beIN Sport threatens to dominate a fast-growing market populated by Fox Sports, ESPN and GolTV. That is bad news for those networks, but great news for soccer teams, leagues and federations.

According to one television executive, beIN paid twice as much as what GolTV had paid to broadcast La Liga, the top Spanish soccer league. BeIN Sport has reportedly paid Comcast to be carried to the cable company’s 22 million television subscribers, rather than being paid by Comcast, the way ESPN and Fox are. BeIN Sport also paid well above market rates for the rights to the United States World Cup qualifiers.

“There is a maxim that a small distributor will pay more for rights than a large one because it means more to them,” said Neal H. Pilson, a former president of CBS Sports who is a consultant. “In a world with thousands of channels, live sports are a means of growing an existing business or launching a new business.”

Mr. Schoen, beIN Sport’s new announcer, said he was unaware whether his new employer would try to acquire the United States rights to England’s Premier League when they come up for bid. Industry executives expect those rights to fetch twice as much as what Fox paid for them three years ago, or far more if beIN Sport joins the bidding.

“If the soccer industry in the U.S. remains a business driven by economics, I think everyone will be successful,” said Rodrigo Lombello, the chief operating officer of GolTV, which was outbid by beIN Sport for the United States rights to Spain’s top league games. “But if the industry is going to be a toy for the sheik from Qatar, then I don’t know what will happen.”

Fox, which now broadcasts Premier League games in the United States, is eager to defend its turf, especially after spending heavily to win the rights to broadcast the World Cups in 2018 and 2022. Losing the Premier League, the world’s most popular, would be a blow.

Fox argues that it is a better fit for the Premier League than beIN Sport because it can broadcast games to most homes in America, not just a few million homes that buy special sports packages. Last season, Fox set viewership records when it showed Premier League matches on Sundays while other networks were broadcasting N.F.L. games.

“Bottom line, there’s always been competition in this field,” said David Nathanson, the general manager of Fox Soccer. “It just so happens that as the sport of soccer has grown in the U.S., you’re bound to have more players interested in it. But we’re the only dedicated English-language soccer network today, so it plays to our strength.”

Longer term, the question many television executives are asking is what Al Jazeera and the Qataris hope to accomplish with beIN Sport. Are they trying to tap the seemingly unending interest in soccer and sports? Are they trying to promote Qatar ahead of the World Cup in 2022? Or do they want to use beIN Sport as a wedge to get cable and satellite providers to carry Al Jazeera’s news channel, which has had trouble getting carried in the United States because, some suggest, of the hostility to the network’s programming?

BeIN Sport is careful to note that it operates independently of Al Jazeera’s news division and, thus far, has focused only on buying sports rights. But other networks have used sports to promote their other programming. Nearly two decades ago, Fox shocked the sports world when it paid top dollar to show the N.F.L. Despite early losses, Fox gained wider coverage for its broadcast network.

Al Jazeera may be trying to pull a page from Fox’s playbook. Some industry executives say that while the Qataris are perceived to have limitless resources, they may be doing what other networks have done before them: spending heavily to break into a crowded market.

“My experience is they are more economically driven than you would think and they have a very westernized philosophy,” said Rob Tilliss, a sports consultant who advises clients in the Middle East.

The common perception that cable operators are reluctant to do business with Al Jazeera is incorrect, he said. “It’s a commercial relationship, and the more I go over there, the more I realize that,” he said. “At the end of the day, their objectives are basically the same.”

<NYT_AUTHOR_ID> <p>Richard Sandomir and Jack Bell contributed reporting.