Saudi Arabia involved in ongoing football piracy: Premier League




Saudi-owned satellite television is part of a sophisticated piracy operation involving the illegal broadcast of football matches across the Middle East and North Africa, the English Premier League said. There was "compelling" evidence showing that Riyadh-based Arabsat satellite operator allowed pirate channel beoutQ to use its services while broadcasting all Premier League matches played since the season began on August 10, it said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Premier League strongly condemns the illegal broadcast piracy of its matches currently taking place in Saudi Arabia and available in multiple territories throughout the Middle East by an illegal pirate channel called 'beoutQ'," the league said. Qatar-based beIN Sports is the holds the legal rights for the broadcast of all Premier League fixtures across the Middle East and North Africa, having recently extended its exclusive agreement until 2021-2022. The league has taken a number of measures to address the "very serious issue", including the appointment of legal counsel in Saudi Arabia and issuing a complaint to the European Commission. "Like all content creators and rights owners, our business model is predicated on the ability to market and sell protected rights, and we will take all available action to support the investment made in the league by our legitimate broadcast partners."


BeIN said Saudi-based pirate channel beautQ had "orchestrated a plague of piracy on world sport over the past year", and accused it of illegally broadcasting every game during the recent FIFA World Cup in Russia.


Al-Jazeera