Has anyone noticed that beIn Sports has vanished from DirecTV and Comcast screens?

Now unless you tend to watch Spanish La Liga or French soccer, or you love Ray Hudson screaming at you through your TV, you probably never hear of the Qatar-owned, Fort Lauderdale-based network. Now, if you are an AT&T/Direct or Comcast subscriber, you will not be hearing from them again any time soon.

Here is why this is big news. Remember that cable and satellite TV is a game of spectrum that has a finite limit. Let's say that you are planning to add a new sports channel to your line up in August but have limitations on available spectrum. What should you do?

It looks like Direct and Comcast have made their call and have eliminated beIN to make room for the ACC Network. This is by the book stuff as channels are decommissioned 9-12 months in advance before adding a new network.

Now all that we are waiting for is the press release on some carriage agreements.