KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Wednesday condemned broadcasts of games stolen from Qatari rights holder BeIN Sports by Saudi-backed pirate entity ‘beoutQ’.
Unlike a previous AFC statement Saturday about a “cease and desist” notice, Wednesday’s statement specifically named Saudi Arabia and “the pirate entity named ‘beoutQ’ that continues to illegally broadcast the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019”.
The governing body for football in the region further stated: “The AFC has already instructed 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.
“The AFC will continue to support its commercial and broadcast partners by protecting their contractual rights.”
The state backed pirate broadcast has a direct proxy link to a 19-month Saudi-led political and logistical boycott of Qatar by the kingdom’s allies, which includes Asian Cup host United Arab Emirates.
BeoutQ, a 10-channel system broadcasting to the Middle East on the Arabsat operator, is being transmitted from Saudi Arabia.
BeIN Sports holds the legal rights for the broadcast of most major sports fixtures across the Middle East and North Africa.
Saudi Arabia was the biggest market for beIN Media Group before the boycott. The Qatari company holds regional broadcasting rights for much of the world’s most expensive and high-profile sporting events as well as entertainment.
The blockade on Qatar was imposed in June 2017 by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
The quartet accused Doha of supporting “terrorism”. Qatar has denied the charges and asserts the boycott’s principal aimed is to impinge on its sovereignty.
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