FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

By David Swarts

I have DirecTV in my household. We have the Xtra package of about 220 channels which has a base cost of about $70 per month. That package includes FoxSports1, which was the former home of the MotoGP World Championship, and CBS Sports, which was the 2015 home of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series.

The FIM Superbike World Championship moved to beIN SPORTS network in 2015, but I did not change my programming package. At first glance it looked like I would have to switch to DirecTV’s highest and most expensive channel package to get beIN SPORTS, which would essentially double my bill just to get the one channel. Watching World Superbike races live was not a priority for me, so I put it off.

In 2016, MotoGP and MotoAmerica were also picked up by beIN SPORTS, making it much, much more attractive to change my programming package to get that network.

But instead of just ordering the larger, more expensive channel package, I called DirecTV and asked if there was another, less expensive way to get beIN SPORTS. Five minutes later I had a new package of sports channels that costs me an extra $13.99 per month, that did not affect the package and discounts I already had, and that can be dropped at any time, like during the off-season.

So now by subscribing to beIN SPORTS I can watch and record on my DVR all MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3, World Superbike, World Supersport and MotoAmerica races either live or tape-delayed on my TV with limited commercials. I can also stream them all live on my mobile devices via beIN SPORTS CONNECT, and I can watch races from all three series on-demand on my mobile devices through beIN SPORTS CONNECT.

I posted this on my personal Facebook page and got lots of feedback. The vast majority of the feedback I received was positive, because most of my friends recognize how much better MotoAmerica’s 2016 TV package is to what they’ve had in the past, but I also got some negative feedback.

The negativity ranged from people who were still stuck in the good ol’ days of Speedvision and Speed Channel to people who were unhappy that MotoAmerica and MotoGP switched to a network they didn’t already have to people who don’t have access to beIN SPORTS for a variety of reasons.

All I know is when I saw all three great road racing series were to be on the same network, and a network that obviously wants to be the home of motorcycle road racing, I investigated and found a way to get the new network. Luckily, it was easy for me. Hopefully, all the fans who want to follow great motorcycle road racing in 2016 will be able to find a way to get beIN Sports, as well.