EXCLUSIVE: beIN SPORTS says that the reason why the popular sports network has been removed from the PlayStation Vue platform is due to Sony Interactive Entertainment being unwilling to pay a fair market value for the beIN SPORTS channels that carry La Liga, World Cup qualifying and other popular sports programming.

“We’ve certainly made every attempt to renew [the agreement between beIN SPORTS and PlayStation Vue to feature beIN SPORTS channels on the streaming network],” said beIN SPORTS VP of Business Development and Affiliate Sales Roy Meyeringh. “Their decision entirely is based on their desire not to pay fair-market value for beIN SPORTS. When I say fair market value, I mean the same rate that our other 30-plus partners are paying.

“beIN SPORTS has proven itself as the fastest-growing sports network for 2015 and 2016. We have a tremendous amount of content.

“This is a situation where we felt we could not afford to have our loyal customers pay more for the same service they received for two years.”

Asked whether beIN SPORTS could return to PlayStation Vue if Sony Interactive Entertainment would be willing to agree to the terms of the agreement, Meyeringh replied “We’d be more than happy to.

“They just have a desire to lower the programming costs. Apparently, from this decision, they have a very low interest in quality soccer programming.”

World Soccer Talk requested a comment from Sony Interactive Entertainment regarding Sony’s decision to remove beIN SPORTS. According to the Sony spokeswoman, she said “Despite our best efforts, we were unable to come to an agreement on terms with the network.”

“We want to continue to be a great partner,” said Meyeringh. “But when one party wants to arbitrarily provide a financial impact to our subscriber, it doesn’t benefit us.

“We were one of the first partners to launch with them. We’d be happy to continue to be with them, but we need to do so in a fair manner to the rest of our partners and our bottom line.”

Soccer fans who are upset that PlayStation Vue has dropped beIN SPORTS can voice their complaints and request that the channel be reinstated by calling 1-877-883-7669, and then pressing zero to speak to the operator.

In the meantime, PlayStation Vue rival fuboTV has moved quickly to offer a 40% discount to new subscribers who want to get beIN SPORTS and the other popular sports, news and entertainment channels. We’ve written an article about some of the best alternatives to PlayStation Vue for those readers who are looking for ways to legally stream beIN SPORTS.