A joint statement by FIFA, the AFC, UEFA, the Bundesliga, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, LFP and the Premier League has been issued following the publication of an investigative report into the operations of beoutQ.
These organisations have commissioned MarkMonitor to conduct research and produce a detailed and independent technical analysis of beoutQ’s operations.
The report confirms that Arabsat has transmitted beoutQ’s pirate broadcasts and calls for the satellite operator to cease carrying these channels.
Arabsat, according to the report, has provided the infrastructure for illegal beoutQ broadcasts. The most direct damage has been to Qatar’s beIN Sports, which estimated the cost of piracy in the Middle East at $1 billion.
The study by MarkMonitor also reveals that the illegal channel’s coverage was not limited to Saudi Arabia, but extended to the entire region. The analysis proves that any individual viewer could easily buy a decoder, which receives the signal through Arabsat satellites or via internet.
The full statement reads as follows: “As rights holders of globally followed sports events, whose intellectual property rights have been breached on a systematic and widespread basis by the pirate broadcaster known as beoutQ, we have commissioned a leading industry body, MarkMonitor, to conduct research and produce a detailed and independent technical analysis of beoutQ’s operations.
“The report confirms without question that beoutQ’s pirate broadcasts have been transmitted using satellite infrastructure owned and operated by Arabsat.
“The contents of the report are today being published in full on the rights holders’ websites to provide transparency about the facts of the case and to demonstrate the seriousness with which we, as global rights holders, view this issue.
“As previously communicated, we have been frustrated in our attempts to pursue a formal copyright claim against beoutQ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, while we have received reports that beoutQ transmissions are currently disrupted, we nevertheless call on Arabsat and all other satellite providers to stop (and going forward agree to refrain from) providing a platform for piracy, which harms not just legitimate licensees, fans and players but also the sports that it abuses.
“Cutting off its access to transmission services would be a major step in the fight to stop beoutQ. We all, individually and collectively, remain committed to bringing an end to international sports piracy.”
The full report can be dowloaded here.
