Widely regarded as one of, if not the best footballer on Planet Earth, Lionel Messi sent shockwaves through the sports universe when he announced he was leaving Barcelona, his football home since he was a teenager. Messi is reportedly signing with Paris Saint-Germain, part of France’s Ligue 1. What does this cosmic shift in power mean for cord-cutters? In short, unless you already receive beIN Sports, you’d better get ready to sign up for another new streaming service — at least for now.
How to Watch Ligue 1 Without Cable
Currently, beIN Sports is your home for Ligue 1 in the United States. The best place to watch beIN Sports without cable is through fuboTV. Sling TV is the only other live TV streaming service that offers beIN Sports, but it’s in a premium tier. You can learn more about watching beIN Sports without cable by clicking here.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Get a Free Trial | Free Trial | Get $10 Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| beIN Sports | - | ✓ | - | - | + $11 | + $11 | + $11 | |
Background
As Ronaldo’s move to Juventus showed us, cable networks will pony up big in order to have top talent on their airwaves. When Ronaldo left Real Madrid to join Juventus, his current club (as of now, at least) ESPN quickly agreed to a three-year deal with Serie A to broadcast their matches. That deal ends at the end of the 2020-21 season, as ViacomCBS & Paramount+ will now be the home for Ronaldo and the rest of Serie A for the next three years.
Many across the pond are frustrated with Ligue 1’s television distribution deal and, with the number of monster deals we’ve seen from La Liga and Premier League, many fans are wondering why they haven’t found a new broadcast partner. Currently, beIN Sports and former partner Canal+ are at odds over a sublicensing deal gone wrong.
The frustration even has fan blogs like PSGTalk saying Ligue 1 should leave beIN for Twitch. Amazon already has international rights for Ligue 1 thanks to a newly-minted rights deal, and Amazon would no doubt love to add another top-notch sports league under its streaming umbrella, especially in the US, where it can pair NFL’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts with Ligue 1, similar to how NBC cross-promotes Sunday Night Football and Premier League matches.
For now, though, this is all speculation — Messi hasn’t put pen to paper with PSG, or any club for that matter. He’ll likely rejoin former Barcelona teammate Neymar in Paris, but there’s also mutual interest in MLS. The thinking is that Messi will play a few more seasons in Europe before joining Inter Miami in the U.S. In that case, ESPN’s MLS deal just got a whole lot more interesting.