Rabat - Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar have surfaced again, and this time it is about the television group BeIN.
Rabat – Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar have surfaced again, and this time it is about the television group BeIN.
Qatar’s BeIN, claimed Monday, October 1, $1 billion for “massive piracy” attributed to Saudi Arabia. Doha is also pursuing a case in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for “intellectual property violations.”
As a global sports and entertainment giant, BeIN holds the expensive rights to broadcast numerous sporting events, including European football championships, basketball, and Formula 1 competitions.
In its press release, BeIN justified its $1 billion damages claim saying it was “subjected to the most pervasive piracy the world has ever seen in sports broadcasting.”
As a “result of the arbitrary and discriminatory measures implemented by Saudi Arabia,” BeIN “has suffered damages exceeding the billion dollars that continue to increase every day,” said the bouquet of sports and entertainment channels.
World Cup piracy row
Before the beginning of the World Cup, tension mounted between Qatar and Saudi Arabia regarding the transmissions of BeIN Sports, which owned the broadcast rights to the World Cup, accused the Saudi-based pirate network of stealing the transmissions of games before the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Qatar’s BeIN Sports had urged FIFA to take measures against the Saudi Arabian “BeoutQ” television channel, investing £12,000 to stop BeoutQ from pirating broadcasts of sports events.
BeIN asserted that “BeoutQ” decoders had been sold openly and extensively throughout Saudi Arabia, although Riyadh claimed to have made “unrelenting” efforts to fight piracy.
Saudi Arabia had welcomed FIFA’s decision to end the pirated sports channel BeoutQ for illegal distribution of the 2018 World Cup, underlining its efforts to fight illegal activities.
