English Premier League formally launches legal action against Saudi pirate channel
More sports bodies from around the world are substituting their words with action against illegal pirate channel beoutQ, based out of Saudi Arabia.
The English Premier League yesterday appointed legal counsel to take formal action in Saudi Arabia against beoutQ, reported Reuters news agency.
The channel has been accused by world football’s governing body FIFA, tennis ruling bodies and other sports organisations of illegally airing content, whose exclusive TV rights in the Middle East belong to Qatar-based broadcaster beIN Sport.
BeIn Sports has the rights to broadcast the Premier League and other sports competitions in the Middle East and North Africa.
“The League has already appointed legal counsel in Saudi Arabia to begin the process of bringing action against the parties involved in this piracy,” the Premier League said in a statement.
“We’ve also made representations through the Sports Rights Owners Coalition to the European Commission and made the UK government aware of the issue,” it said, describing the broadcasts as “highly organised and sophisticated illegal broadcast piracy”.
“The Premier League is aware of new evidence presented by beIN Media Group, which further demonstrates that its content is being illegally broadcast in Saudi Arabia and made available in several countries across the Middle East by an illegal pirate channel called ‘beoutQ,’” the Premier League said Friday, according to Gulf Times.
“Like other sports and content providers, our model is predicated on the ability to market, sell and protect commercial rights. The broadcasters and licensees who acquire these rights legitimately, like beIN Media Group, make our competition available to fans across the world, and their investment underpins our ability to support Premier League clubs in continuously working to make the competition as compelling as possible,” it added.
The beIN Media group had recently launched a website which gave details about the bootleg operation’s early days and stunning growth.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had said last week it was taking legal action regarding beoutQ’s illegal broadcasts of the continent-wide AFC Asian Cup.
Last month, the World Trade Organisation had said it would investigate Qatari allegations of intellectual property breaches by Saudi Arabia, including the piracy of beIN content, despite Riyadh’s objections on national security grounds.
