FIFA Red Card for beoutQ
July 12, 2018
By Colin Mann
In light of the continued illegal use of the World Cup football broadcast signal by pirate operation beoutQ, the game’s governing body FIFA has engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have also been affected to protect its interest.
“FIFA urges the authorities of Saudi Arabia and of the different countries where these illegal activities have been observed to support us in the fight against piracy,” it said in a Statement.
According to MENA rights-holder beIN Sports, this is the firmest warning yet from a sporting organisation on the actions of the Illegal broadcaster. “FIFA has added further weight behind a chorus of world sporting organisations who have condemned the stealing of broadcast rights by beoutQ. The likes of La Liga, UEFA, CAF, F1, The Tennis Federations, and the Deutsche Fussball Liga, have all raised the issue of the theft of their broadcast rights,” reported AlJazeera.
At the start of the tournament, FIFA issued a Statement saying that it was aware that beoutQ had illegally distributed the opening matches of 2018 FIFA World Cup in the MENA 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,” it asserted.