BeIN Media Group has stepped up its campaign to eradicate piracy of its sports broadcasts by making a request for world football’s governing body Fifa to take legal action against Saudi-headquartered communications satellite operator Arabsat.
BeIN has been fighting a long-running battle against what it claims is Saudi-backed piracy of its content, and has made its latest request ahead of the forthcoming Fifa World Cup, for which it holds exclusive rights across the Middle East and North Africa region.
“We have requested Fifa to take direct legal action against Arabsat and the indications we have show that they are behind that,” beIN general counsel Sophie Jordan told the AFP news agency. “We have asked Fifa to put direct pressure on the pirates.”
BeIN has repeatedly called on Saudi Arabia to shut down a pirate channel called beoutQ in the country. BeIN claims that beoutQ is showing the broadcaster’s “propriety media content.”
BeIN said that since last October, beoutQ has been using a signal from Riyadh-based Arabsat to illegally transmit its broadcasts. It added that Illegal transmissions from beoutQ had appeared in Morocco, Jordan and Syria, and it was likely they would soon reach Asia and southern Europe.
BeIN said it has been unable to secure legal representation in Saudi Arabia since the start of the boycott, and therefore cannot take legal action in the kingdom. BeIN’s home country of Qatar is currently engaged in a diplomatic and economic dispute with neighbours including Saudi Arabia.
The broadcaster has also called on European football’s governing body Uefa to take legal action after it said Saturday’s Champions League final was broadcast illegally by beoutQ. Daniel Markham, a beIN UK executive director, added: “Frankly and candidly, rights holders need to do more on this topic, these are their rights.”