MUMBAI: Qatar-based broadcaster beIN Sports said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia will soon lift a four-year ban on the channel and has promised to close pirate websites.
The BIG news from the the ending of the ban, at least as far as the British media is concerned, is that the development would remove a key factor behind the collapsed takeover of English Premier League club Newcastle United by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF).
What appears to have slipped under the radar as it were is how the development changes the cricket media rights scenario in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), which has been beIN Sports’s main “stomping ground”.
It bears noting that beIN has stayed away from pan region media rights bids as a fallout from the Saudi ban.
The lifting of the Saudi “blockade” means that a cash rich media network can potentially enter the game at a time when the International Cricket Council is reportedly planning to sell its next cycle (post-2023) of media rights – both television and digital – territory-wise. The development also comes well timed with BCCI’s announcement of the tender of Indian Premier League media rights for the 2023-2027 cycle.
Clearly it is not just the owners of Newcastle United who would be welcoming the thaw in Qatar-Saudi relations. The BCCI and ICC will be hoping that the Qatari sportscaster turns its attention to the tent pole properties that the two governing bodies have on offer.
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