FIFA threatens to take action against Saudi Arabian pirate TV station

Football’s governing body FIFA accused television channel BeoutQ, which is widely available in Saudi Arabia, of illegally broadcasting the opening games of the World Cup, reported Reuters.

Football’s governing body released a statement after the Riyadh-based station, Arabsat, in which Saudi Arabia is the largest shareholder, ignored warnings to stop its broadcast of the first two matches, according to Gulf Times.

FIFA intervened after complaints by the Qatar-based channel, beIN Sports, which has bought exclusive rights to the World Cup across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia stopped trading with Qatar last June when it launched a diplomatic and transport boycott accusing it of cosying up to Iran and supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.

The piracy operation involves Arabsat allegedly stealing the beIN World Cup satellite feed and superimposing a ‘BeoutQ’ logo on top of the beIN one.

In its statement on Friday FIFA said: ‘FIFA is aware that a pirate channel named BeoutQ has illegally distributed the opening matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) region.

“FIFA takes infringements of its intellectual property very seriously and is exploring all options to stop the infringement of its rights, including in relation to action against legitimate organisations that are seen to support such illegal activities.

‘We refute that BeoutQ has received any rights from FIFA to broadcast any FIFA event,’ reported Qatar Tribune.