In years past there have been African and Middle East broadcasters who have happily stolen pay-TV’s exclusive coverage of key sporting events. DStv has now issued a clear warning to broadcasters in Africa saying, in essence, ‘hands off our signals’. The most blatant thefts of football signals occurred during the Saudi Arabian beoutQ transmissions of […]
Reports out of Qatar suggest that the long-running and bitter dispute between beIN Sports and pirates allegedly working within Saudi Arabia has been settled. Saudi Arabia has “banned” Qatar-based beIN in the Kingdom for some four years and in direct contravention of most sports’ governing bodies, while the beoutQ piracy operation has cost beIN Media […]
A carefully-orchestrated – and highly public – rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and four other gulf states and Qatar sees the end result as a reopening of trade, contacts and communications. The various announcements do not specifically mention Qatar’s Al Jazeera news channel, or the long-running dispute with Qatar-based beIN Sports. But the agreements, showcased at […]
In a move that may benefit the potential takeover of English Premier League football club Newcastle United by Saudi interests, the kingdom’s IP body, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP), has announced its intention to block 231 websites that it says violate regulations and rights. The announcement follows a damning report from the World […]
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that the Government of Saudi Arabia has actively promoted and supported the beoutQ pirate operation since the beginning. The WTO’s final judgement – published on June 16th 2020 – declares Saudi Arabia has wholly breached, and is breaching, its obligations under international law to protect intellectual property rights. […]
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has declared that Saudi Arabia-supported sports and programming pirate beoutQ is in breach of international law, in a ruling that will be published formally mid-June. The WTO has also reportedly ruled, according to The Guardian, that Saudi Arabia’s government is behind beoutQ. The pirate service was started because of a […]