The executive vice-president of Digiturk, beIN Sports’ Turkish subsidiary, has urged greater action against piracy after revealing the pay-television broadcaster is losing nearly TRY500m ($84m) per year as a result of this activity.
Saad Saleh Al-Hudaifi told Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency: “Piracy is the main enemy for any broadcaster companies. We are suffering from piracy also internationally, not only [in] Turkey.
“If you divided between tax and the dedicated amount to the clubs, that means [Digiturk is] losing TRY64m that we are supposed to pay to the government and TRY420m to the clubs.”
Content piracy has ravaged beIN’s global business for several years, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and calls to increase action against piracy have come from several of the world’s leading rights-holders as well as Yousef Al-Obaidly, beIN Media Group’s chief executive.
Al-Hudaifi said that Digiturk was working with the Turkish government, suggesting that new laws could be introduced to combat the issue.
Digiturk is a major buyer of sports rights in Turkey and boasts around 3.5 million subscribers. It currently holds the rights to the Uefa Champions League, Euroleague basketball and the top-tier domestic Süper Lig football league among others.