BEIN Sports has created a new website that it claims “exposes the industrial scale theft of world sports and entertainment” carried out by the Saudi pirate TV channel beoutQ.
The website shows a timeline of the last 18 months from the barring of access to BEIN’s own content through to the staging of the 2019 Asia Cup.
There is also a list of content alleged to have been ‘stolen’ by beoutQ including Champions League, Bundesliga, Premier League, Formula 1 and NFL.
Yousef Al-Obaidly, Chief Executive Officer, beIN MEDIA GROUP, said: “For the past 18 months beoutQ has brazenly stolen on a daily basis the commercial rights of almost every major sports rights holder and every movie studio around the world; and attempted to sabotage our broadcast business at the same time. We have a very simple message on behalf of the whole sports and entertainment industry:- we will not cease our fight against this unprecedented piracy operation until it is eradicated.”
The site, lists not only sport, but also entertainment properties including Ocean’s 8 (Warner Bros. Pictures), The Incredibles 2 (Disney), Wonder (Lionsgate), Game of Thrones, Westworld (HBO), Altered Carbon (Netflix), American Horror Story (20th Century Fox), The Equalizer 2 (Sony), Elementary (CBS), Victoria (ITV) and Doctor Who (BBC).
Tom Keaveny, Managing Director, beIN MENA, said: “What started out as a concerted and targeted campaign against beIN has now morphed into the largest commercial theft that’s ever been seen in the world of sport and entertainment, affecting everyone from the biggest organisations in sport to Hollywood movie studios and international broadcasters. This Saudi-supported plague of piracy represents an existential threat to the economic model of the industry because every day that beoutQ exists piracy is becoming more normalised across the world. We, at beIN, will not let that happen and this new website of evidence shines a light on the shocking extent of beoutQ’s ongoing theft. Piracy cannot pay; the international rule of law should apply to all, not the few.”
BeoutQ was launched in August 2017, shortly after the boycott and has illegally broadcasted World Cup soccer matches as well as Hollywood entertainment. According to BeIN, beoutQ is based in Saudi Arabia. In August, digital security and technology companies Cisco Systems, Nagra and Overon all confirmed with technical evidence that proves beyond any doubt the involvement of Riyadh-based Arabsat.
