beIN Sports NZ soft launches with a dismal, bare-bones service

UPDATE: beIN Sports has soft-launched its Connect streaming service in NZ today (sign on for a free trial here).

So far, it's hard to see what caused the nine-week delay. It's a bare-bones service consisting of a single live-streaming channel and no on-demand replay options.

beIN says it will add a catch-up service, but it can't say when.

There is a beIN Sports Connection iOS app, but so far it is not showing up in Apple's NZ store.

Compared to previous rights holder PremierLeaguePass.com, which streamed every game live and offered every game on-demand, it seems prehistoric. And it's certainly not going to lure anyone from Sky TV, which is now home to two conventional beIN Sports channels, plus two beIN pop-ups (conspiracy theorists, start your engines).

On the plus side, the video looks fine at full screen on NBR's UFB fibre connection.

NBR is waiting to hear from beIN about whether there are more channels on the way for the service, which is priced at $17.99/month or $179.99 for a season pass.

EARLIER: beIN Sports is promising its Connect streaming service will be ready for English and European soccer games by the weekend.

The Al Jazeera-owned service spent $12 million+ to win New Zealand rights to three seasons of English Premier League soccer, displacing the incumbent Lightbox Sport (a Coliseum Sports/Spark joint venture that streamed games via PremierLeaguePass.com and showed some content on free-to-air partner TVNZ).

Broadcast TV coverage was ready for season kick off on August 13, thanks to new beIN channels on Sky TV (which cost $11.96 a month; Sky says it gets no revenue from the beIN channels, although if someone who wants them is not already a subscriber, they have to shell out for a Basic account first).

But the streaming video on-demand element, beIN Sports Connect, was still on the sideline.

Subscribers to Sky's beIN Connect channels will be able to access Connect for free by using their Sky Go logon. Others will be able to buy a season pass from beIN.

beIN has yet to reveal what Connect will cost. And when contacted earlier by NBR, beIN's Australia-NZ boss Conor Woods said all games would be streamed live, but he was unable to say if the on-demand element would be entail full games or only highlights. Hopefully, those blanks will be filled in today.

The 2016/17 season has already gone nine rounds, with Tottenham Hotspur topping the league by the key least-goals-conceded measure.

Why the delay?

After all, beIN is well-funded (its parent, Al Jazeera, is in turn owned by the Qatar government, which has been looking to hoover up football rights around the globe ahead of 2022 when it will host the World Cup). And it already has a well-regarded streaming service that's up and running in several countries.

Mr Woods says beIN is creating a whole new platform, and wanted to start Kiwis on the new version. 

Today's launch comes as a Waikato company markets a $140 "Bye bye Sky" box that it says will allow users to access channels and sports from offshore, including English Premier League soccer. Lowndes Jordan partner Rick Shera says the $140 box could be illegal, but Sky TV has yet to confirm if it will take legal action.