beIN Sports MENA ( ar, بي إن سبورتس العربية) is a subsidiary of

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

. It is based in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, serving the

Middle East and North Africa MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

(MENA) region. They are owned by

beIN Media Group beIN Media Group ( /ˈbiːɪn/; Arabic: مجموعة بي إن الإعلامية‎, ''Majmū‘at Bī’in al-I‘lāmiyyah'') is a state-owned global sport and entertainment network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. beIN distributes entertainme ...

, a former subsidiary of

Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) (Arabic: الجزيرة‎, romanized: al-jazīrah, IPA: �l (d)ʒæˈziːrɐ , referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is a Qatari international state-owned public media conglomerate headquartered at Qatar Radio and Tele ...

; the sports channels were spun off from

in December 2013. Following the spin-off, the channels' parent company was incorporated in January 2014 as their holding company. The channels primarily broadcast in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, but it also offers feeds in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. Formerly known as Al Jazeera Sport, it was re-named beIN Sports in December 2013 to unify it with Al Jazeera's international group of sports networks in the lead-up to the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In July 2013, the network acquired MENA rights to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. On 4 September 2017, the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

announced a partnership with beIN Sports to launch a local linear version of

Olympic Channel Olympic Channel is an over-the-top Internet television service operated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was launched on August 21, 2016, alongside the closing of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The service aims to maintain year-round ...

for MENA on 1 November 2017.

History

Al Jazeera Sport was founded on 1 November 2003 by Qatari channel

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

. On 1 November 2005, the channel launched its new website. The group of Al Jazeera Sport channels was spun off from Al Jazeera Media Network in December 2013 and subsequently renamed to "beIN Sports" in January 2014; at the same time, the channels' parent company was incorporated as "beIN Media Group".

Channels

The current Arabic-language sports channels in the beIN Sports group: * beIN Sports HD (

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

) (focused on Arabic football competitions) * beIN Sports 1 (focused on Spanish domestic football competitions) * beIN Sports 2 (focused on French domestic football competitions) * beIN Sports 3 (focused on German domestic football competitions) * beIN Sports 4 * beIN Sports 5 (focused on Tennis) * beIN Sports 6 * beIN Sports 7 (The Olympic Channel) * beIN Sports News HD BeIN Sports premium channels. *BeIN Sports Premium 1 (focused on UEFA Champions League and English domestic football competitions) *BeIN Sports Premium 2 *BeIN Sports Premium 3 *BeIN Sports Xtra 1 *BeIN Sports Xtra 2 English and French Language channels *beIN Sports English 1 *beIN Sports English 2 *beIN Sports English 3 *beIN Sports French 1 *beIN Sports French 2 *beIN Sports French 3 BeIN Sports events channels. *beIN Sports Max 1 *beIN Sports Max 2 *beIN Sports Max 3 *beIN Sports Max 4 *beIN Sports Max 5 *beIN Sports Max 6 AFC Channels *BeIN Sports AFC *BeIN Sports AFC 1 *BeIN Sports AFC 2 *BeIN Sports AFC 3 Other sports: * BeIN Sports NBA

Controversy

Piracy in Saudi Arabia

In the wake of the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Qatar and other Arab nations, the beIN Sports channels were briefly banned in the United Arab Emirates in June 2017, and Saudi Arabia banned beIN from selling its subscriptions in the country. The channels have since become available in Saudi Arabia via an unofficial satellite service known as

beoutQ beoutQ was a pirate pay television broadcaster that operated in Saudi Arabia between August 2017 and August 2019. The service consisted of ten satellite television channels that carried rebranded feeds of programming from Qatari broadcaster ...

, which repackages beIN Sports channels as their own by overlaying its own

digital on-screen graphic A digital on-screen graphic, digitally originated graphic (DOG, bug, or network bug) is a watermark-like station logo that most television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen area of their programs to identify the channel. They are ...

s on the feed. beIN has published evidence linking the service

Arabsat The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (often abbreviated as Arabsat) is a communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat was created to deliver satellite-based, public and ...

, but its operators have consistently denied any involvement. The beoutQ service has been criticised by a number of sports sanctioning bodies and event organisers due to its commercial-scale

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

. On 2 October 2018, Qatar filed a case against Saudi Arabia with the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

, citing violations of the

TRIPS Agreement The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by nat ...

. The same day, beIN Media Group also initiated an investment arbitration lawsuit against Saudi Arabia seeking US$1 billion in damages, citing beoutQ and other measures decided to hinder its business in Saudi Arabia. In February 2019, beIN's managing director stated that rightsholder stances on beoutQ's "industrial-scale theft" would be a consideration in future rights deals, and that it would also pay less because it can no longer guarantee that its rights would be protected. He went on to explain that "we have been warning of the very real commercial consequences of beoutQ's theft of world sport and entertainment for almost two years now – yet the piracy continues with impunity every day and represents an existential threat to the economic model of the sports and entertainment industry." In June 2019, beIN laid off 300 employees, citing the piracy issues as a factor. It also declined to renew its rights to

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, which were instead acquired by free-to-air satellite channel

MBC Action MBC Action (stylized as ''MBC'ACTION'') is a free-to-air television channel that MBC Group’s action-packed channel that targets young Arabic males. It delivers the best in high-octane Western series, movies and action. shows and sports and ...

Monopoly accusations

Free-to-air broadcasters in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia decided against sub-licensing domestic rights to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations from beIN, considering the fees they were charging to be too exorbitant. On 22 June 2018, minister

Saud al-Qahtani Saud bin Abdullah al-Qahtani (born July 7, 1978) is a Saudi Arabian consultant and former royal court advisor. Prior to his dismissal in late 2018, he worked as an advisor to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. ...

stated that the

Saudi Arabian Football Federation The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF, ar, الاتحاد العربي السعودي لكرة القدم) is the football governing body of Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1956, its responsibilities include administration of club competitions an ...

(SAFF) had filed a complaint with

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

against beIN Sports' monopolization of sports broadcast rights in the MENA region. On 21 August 2018, beIN Sports was fined US$2.6 million by Saudi Arabia for violations of

competition law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

, including forced bundling of its services with other unrelated channels. beIN responded to the fine by claiming it was politically-motivated, arguing that they were being "attacked by the Saudi authorities for doing exactly what sports and entertainment broadcasters around the world do, and indeed what other broadcasters active in the Saudi market also do", and that the actions were "another illegitimate attempt by Saudi Arabia to drive beIN's highly successful business from the country, putting politics ahead of the interests of Saudi consumers.", also factoring in the aforementioned beoutQ piracy operation. On 23 August 2018, beIN Sports' license to broadcast in Saudi Arabia was officially revoked. On 12 March 2019, the SAFF announced that the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

had stripped beIN Sports of its media rights in Saudi Arabia to "cancel" its monopoly on football, citing the "illegality of BeIN Sport to transmit in the Kingdom due to the grave violations of the laws and regulations BeIN Sport has committed", and "its inability to obtain the required licenses necessary for it to fulfil its commitments in transmitting AFC's competitions to the viewers and followers in the Kingdom". The AFC announced that it would "gradually" transition its media rights to an in-house digital platform, beginning with a

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

match occurring that week. The AFC had previously condemned the aforementioned beoutQ for its illegal broadcasts of the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

. beIN subsequently announced that it would pursue legal action, accusing the AFC of apparent

collusion Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to att ...

with the SAFF to breach its media rights agreements.

Broadcast

Satellite

On 1 March 2014, they launched SD switch-off on satellite. These channels will carry a text caption with SD shutdown information until 11 June 2014. On 11 June 2014, BeIN Sports switch-off SD satellite transmissions.

Smartcards

On its launch in 2003, Subscribers could receive encrypted programs with an integrated CA on satellite receivers. Since 1 March 2014, after switching to the Irdeto secure mode, subscribers must have a JSC/BeIN receiver to watch encrypted programs.

Timeline

* 1 November 2003: Start of Al Jazeera Sports channels. *1 January 2014: Rebranded beIN Sports. *11 June 2014: SD switch-off on satellite.

References

External links

* {{BeIN Media Group BeIN Sports Sports mass media in the Middle East Television channels and stations established in 2003