Ten Sports

How famous is football in South Asia and Middle East?

Football is one of the most popular sports in the world, and South Asian countries and the Middle East are no exception. The game is played and watched by millions of people across Japan, China, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

The Fifa World Cup in 2022 can be regarded as a prime example of the growing passion for the beautiful game in the Middle East. The popularity of the game is also reflected by the new football leagues in India, and ever-growing fanbase in Pakistan.

According to online sources, the fanbase in Asia is approximately 800 million! Not only this, 32% of the viewership of the English Premier League comes from Asia.

Is Ten Sports the go to channel for these millions of people? Let's find out!

What is Ten Sports?

Ten Sports is a sports channels that owns the rights to broadcast various sports tournaments and leagues in most of the South Asian, and Middle eastern countries. The channel offers exclusive coverage of the most watched sports such as Cricket, Football, Basketball, Formula 1, and many more.

The channel is available via a cable or satellite TV provider, and via mobile applications on both Android and iOS. There are certain restrictions based on the region, but these are limited to the online services.

Football is one of the most famous sports in the world and the fans always need a reliable, high quality streaming service to watch their favorite teams play in either their respective domestic leagues, or international tournaments. Ten Sports offers extensive coverage of the sports most popular leagues and tournaments, such as Bundesliga, League 1, UEFA Champions League, etc.

What leagues does Ten Sports broadcast?

When it comes to football, Ten Sports has a wide range of choices for its viewers. In Pakistan, Ten Sports currently owns the license to broadcast the Bundesliga. The network also has broadcasting rights for UEFA’s tournaments. Both licenses are until 2024, and will most likely be renewed when the tenure ends. The dedicated football channels under the network are Sony Ten 2 and Sony Ten 2 HD.

Here is a complete list of tournaments that Ten Sports broadcasts:

• UEFA Champions League: If you're a football fan, you've probably heard of the UEFA Champions League-it's one of the biggest and most prestigious annual club competitions in Europe, featuring the best teams from across the continent. It's a chance to see some of the biggest names in the sport battle it out for glory.

• UEFA Europa League: The UEFA Europa League is another exciting tournament for football fans, offering an opportunity for smaller clubs to compete against some of the top teams in Europe. While it may not have the same level of prestige as the Champions League, it's still a highly competitive tournament that draws a lot of attention from fans.

• UEFA Europa Conference League: The UEFA Europa Conference League is a brand-new addition to the European football calendar, introduced in 2021. It's the third-tier competition for club teams in Europe, and it provides a chance for lesser-known clubs from smaller leagues to showcase their skills at the European level.

• UEFA FIFA European Qualifiers: The UEFA FIFA European Qualifiers is a crucial tournament that determines which European teams will make it to the FIFA World Cup. Teams from all over the continent compete for a chance to represent their country on the biggest stage in football.

• Bundesliga: Moving over to Germany, the Bundesliga is the country's top professional football league. It's renowned for being one of the most competitive and exciting leagues in the world, with a host of world-class players and teams battling it out each season. Ten Sports own the exclusive rights to broadcast the league in South Asia.

• FA Cup: Finally, the FA Cup is an iconic annual knockout football competition in England, open to clubs from all levels of the English football league system. It's a chance for smaller teams to make a name for themselves by taking on some of the biggest clubs in the country.

What do people think of Ten Sports?

For every business, a great KPI is the social media engagement. Ten Sports has an Instagram page among other social media accounts. This is where their marketing team posts about the on-going matches, player stats, upcoming tournaments, as well as opening ceremonies!

Ten Sports offers exclusive photos and videos on their Instagram and Facebook. Their Facebook account have over 2 million followers and 2 million likes! The page's followers are mostly from the South Asian region.

All in all, the channel has a good presense on social media, with millions of followers and likes! The fan engagement is also respectable, thanks to the high quality photos, videos, exclusive interviews with players, and statistics, etc.

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A post shared by TenSports Pakistan (@tensportspak)

Does Ten Sports offer the best quality?

When it comes to live television or online streaming, one of the main concerns of any fan is the quality of the stream. As we are talking about Ten Sports as a channel, let's check out the quality of the stream, and how it compares to other channels.

Ten Sports is mostly offered in 720p and 1080p, the latter being the most common and industry standard nowadays. Ten Sports HD, and Ten 2 HD are the two channels that provide full HD coverage.

Strictly talking about Pakistan, the only other channel that broadcasts football matches in full HD, is ASports. Being a new channel and a good investment behind it, the channel has pretty good coverage!

Well, if you are a Pakistani football fan, Ten Sports will give you a competitive quality of coverage. However, if you want to switch over, ASports is the only channel with similar quality.

How do I watch Ten Sports on TV?

If you live in a South Asia country, Ten Sports may be included as part of your cable or satellite TV subscription. Ten Sports is one of the most viewed sports channels in the South Asian region, so there is a high chance that the channel is part of a TV or set-up box package.

Before purchasing subscription, you should check in with your service provider to find out the list of channels that are offered.

"Ten Sports offers extensive coverage of the sports most popular leagues and tournaments, such as Bundesliga, League 1, UEFA Champions League, etc."

How do I watch Ten Sports online?

Even though Ten Sports is one of the largest networks in South Asia and the Middle east, the official website of the network does not have live streaming services. On top of that, there is no official application to stream the channel as well. Sony Pictures Networks has an official website, but no streaming service, which is not expected of a company this big.

To watch the channel online, you have to subscribe to any streaming service that has the channel included in it’s package. For example, in India, SonyLIV has the rights to stream Ten Sports. All you have to do, is to go to one of the streaming websites, and sign up. When prompted, complete the payment, and you are good to go! Just browse the list of channels to find Ten Sports.

The downside here, is that you have to pay for the subscription. Although the subscription fee is not that high, you may not like the idea of paying for a bunch of channels just to watch one of them.

What alternatives are there to Ten Sports?

1. PTV Sports: PTV Sports is a popular sports channel in Pakistan that broadcasts live sporting events, including football matches. The downside being that PTV sports does not have any other sub-channels dedicated to football.
2. Geo Super: Geo Super is another sports channel in Pakistan that broadcasts live sports events, including football matches. One of the cons is that the channel is more inclined towards broadcasting local matches. There is no dedicated channel for football either, which means that the football match broadcasts are few and far between.
3. A-Sports: Launched October 2021, A Sports has gained popularity among the Pakistani Sports fans. This is the only channel that owns the rights to broadcast La Liga matches in Pakistan. The quality of broadcast if full HD, and the channel is accessible via cable or satellite TV. You can also watch the channel live online.

Weekend #Bundesliga ⚽ is here with 🔝-tier fixtures on the cards 🔥

Which contest do you think will produce the most goals❓ 👀

Catch the action LIVE only on TenSportsHD!#Bundesliga #DoubleHeader #Football #TenSportsHD pic.twitter.com/YOlYertvnb

— TenSports Pakistan (@TenPakistan) February 4, 2023

Is Ten Sports the best sports channel in Pakistan?

Now that we have mentioned the competition that Ten Sports has in Pakistan, let’s talk about whether it’s the best channel to watch for a Pakistan football fan. There are quite a few things to consider here, so let’s just get straight to the point.

• Broadcasting rights: As mentioned earlier, Ten Sports has the rights to broadcast Bundesliga and UEFA’s tournaments. However, these are by no means the most watched football matches. For instance, the FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid game in October last year had 700 million people watching the game. Ten Sports not having the rights to broadcast certain fan favorite leagues is a major setback.

• Quality of Coverage: Ten Sports offers the one of the highest quality coverage among Pakistani channels. In fact, the only channel that comes close to competing with Ten Sports, is ASports. Sony Pictures Networks does not compromise on the quality of the stream.

  "The channel uses state-or-the-art technology to ensure a seamless viewing experience."

• Availability: Even though it comes with a fee, Ten Sports is available for viewing online, on all devices, anywhere in the world. The channel is available in more than 12 countries on cable and satellite TV, and is also available online.

  Availability has always been one of the strengths of the Ten Sports.

• Diversity: Ten Sports offers a variety of sports events to watch, ranging from Formula 1, to Football, Cricket, Basketball, Tennis, and even WWE. This diversity is one of the main traits that differentiates Ten Sports from its competitors.

Having said all that, it’s still difficult to determine what channel is the best for viewing football matches. The deciding factor in this case are the broadcasting rights and the fan-engagement. Ten Sports does have the right to broadcast UEFA’s tournaments as well as League 1 and Bundesliga, however, these two leagues are not the only two most watches leagues in the world.

If you want to watch La Liga in Pakistan or India, you may have to choose some other alternative. Same is the case with the English Premier League. For UEFA’s tournament, you can definitely trust Ten Sports to play its role in providing high quality, seamless streams.

In the end, the opinion is always subjective and everything comes down to your own preferences.