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beIN sports is back on your TV screens

Dubai - Sports fans in Dubai were overjoyed that the channel was back. For some of them, beIN Sports is the only way of watching sporting events in the region

Football fans in the UAE, rejoice, for beIN Sports has been unblocked on your television screens. The Qatari-owned channel was blocked for more than a month due to the ongoing rift between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
However, service providers confirmed on Saturday that the channel was available again. Etisalat sent out a text message to customers confirming that it was back.
An Etisalat customer care representative told Khaleej Times over the phone: "beIN is back. It was gone for a month but it will stay now."
However, in a text message the company sent to its customers, it added: "The provision of the beIN package will be subject to an ongoing review."
A du customer care representative said: "The channel is back."
Sports fans in Dubai were overjoyed that the channel was back. "To some of us, beIN Sports is the only way of watching sporting events in the region. (After the Qatar crisis began) ... it was quite unfortunate that us sporting fans had to suffer the fate of not being able to tune into sports from around the world," said Jamaal Hamilton, a 23-year-old expat from Antigua and Barbuda.
"The blocking of the channels came at a time when there were numerous events happening such as the Fifa U-20 World Cup; some Formula One races; the Fifa confederations cup; and major tennis events. To watch some of those, I would have had to find and subscribe to streaming services, which is very inconvenient.
"Now that it has been restored, it is a jubilant moment because the football season is right around the corner. It would have been truly heart-wrenching to not be able to watch it from the comfort of my home on my television," Hamilton added.
An Indian electrical engineer in Dubai, Shamsudeen Jassim, was also happy that he could watch the channel again. "(I am) very happy that beIN Sports is back because that's the only channel showing football and the Premier League. It's the place for all football games. I'm a big Manchester United fan and was disappointed when the channels were blocked," he said.
Sports fans also took to social media to express happiness over the news.
A Twitter user, Omar (@9OHmar), tweeted: "BeIN Sports is back, which means premiere league for everyone".
Another Twitterati, Grant (@Captain_Buns), tweeted: "Nice to have @beINSPORTS available here again in the UAE."
Khaleej Times contacted both du and Etisalat for an official statement, but we did not receive a response at the time of this report going to print.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com