Al Jazeera names French sports channels

Al Jazeera has confirmed that its French sports channels will be named Be In Sport 1 and Be In Sport 2.

“This choice reflects the spirit of both channels towards showing the biggest events live and in exclusively,” said Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, general manager of Al Jazeera Sport.

The Qatar-based broadcaster now holds a significant part of the rights to Ligue 1 football in France, including the pay-per-view rights previously held by Canal Plus’s Foot Plus service. It has called for bids from ad agencies to sell the ad space on the French sports channels during the next three years. The sales units of France Télévisions, Lagardère, TF1 and Amaury are reportedly preparing bids.