Qatar’s beIN extends English Premier League contract

BeIN Sports announced on Friday it will extend its contract by three years to exclusively broadcast English Premier League football matches in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The contract means the Qatari broadcaster will show matches from the English top tier from next year to the end of the 2022 season.

“We are honoured that the Premier League has trusted beIN media Group and beIN Sports again to be the official and exclusive broadcaster, champion and custodian of its product in the Middle East and North Africa,” said the broadcaster’s chairman and Paris Saint-Germain president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

BeIN have the current contract in the region for broadcasting English Premier League games. The new season starts on Friday.

It will show 380 live games from England per season.

“BeIN is a long-term partner of the League and its first-rate coverage has helped to grow interest in our clubs across many countries,” said Richard Scudamore, executive chairman of the Premier League.

“We look forward to continuing to work with them.”

The latest agreement comes at a time when beIN is battling pirate broadcasters in the Middle East over illegal transmissions of its exclusive football coverage.

BeIN claims that since last October a pirate channel known as “beoutQ” — using a signal from Riyadh-based satellite provider Arabsat — has been illegally transmitting its broadcasts.

The issue came to a head during the recent World Cup after beIN said its exclusive rights to show tournament matches were illegally broadcast by beoutQ.

FIFA said in July that it was preparing to take legal action in Saudi Arabia against pirate broadcasters.

Saudi Arabia said recently it had confiscated more than 12,000 pirating devices across the country.

The piracy issue has surfaced at a politically sensitive time in the Gulf, with Qatar boycotted by its neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, in a highly fractious 14-month long diplomatic and economic dispute.

Qatar has been isolated since June 2017, accused by Saudi Arabia and its allies of supporting terrorism and being too close to Riyadh’s archrival, Iran — charges Doha denies.

The Qatar-based sports television network beIN has announced it has won the exclusive rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the 2018/19 to 2020/21 seasons.

The contract means that the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League will be available exclusively on beIN SPORTS, the home of football and current broadcaster of games for the next four years.

For the 2017/18 season, every match will be broadcast live and exclusive across beIN SPORTS’ 20 sports channels, available in Arabic, English, Spanish and French.

“This acquisition reaffirms beIN SPORTS position as the undisputed market leader and provides our subscribers with continued access to the UEFA Champions League – one of the most illustrious leagues in world football,” beIN said.

The agreement cements beIN’s long-standing partnership with UEFA and demonstrates their faith in beIN SPORTS and its award-winning sports coverage.

Announcing the agreement, Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA marketing director, said: “UEFA are pleased to confirm that beIN SPORTS has extended its broadcasting partnership with the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League in the Middle East and North Africa region for the 2018/19 to 2020/21 seasons.

“beIN SPORTS delivers extensive coverage for the competitions to all football fans in the region with broadcast innovation and programming at the very highest production standards.

“beIN SPORTS continues to be a great global partner of UEFA, with agreements in over 30 countries around the world, and we look forward to working closely with beIN SPORTS for another cycle of UEFA competitions.”

Commenting on the award, Nasser Al Khelaifi, chairman and CEO of beIN, said: “We’re delighted to continue our partnership with UEFA to provide Champions League football to our fans.

“This acquisition confirms the strength of our relationships with rights holders such as UEFA and adds to our best in class football offer, available exclusively on beIN SPORTS.

“The upcoming football season promises to be the best yet for beIN SPORTS subscribers with English Premier League, LaLiga, Series A, CAF Champions League and UEFA Champions League, culminating in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

“We look forward to continuing our work with UEFA, building on our successful 12-year partnership.”