The Saudi government has permanently cancelled beIN Sports license after the General Authority for Competition (GAC) reported that the Qatar-based channel is operating monopolistic activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The GAC stated that beIN abused its dominant position through numerous monopolistic practices, which violated the country's competition law.
Based on what the authority described as “violations” by the Qatari channel, it decided to punish it with a fine of 10 million Saudi riyals or £ 2.1 million, in addition to cancelling the company’s license in the Kingdom “permanently” and obligate it to return the gains it had made as a result of the violations and publish the decision at its expense.
beIN said in a statement that the decision makes no sense at every level, preventing beIN from encapsulating its rights in the usual way that sports and entertainment broadcasters around the world do, as do other broadcasters in the Saudi market,.
"We also wonder - how Saudi citizens can legally watch the Premier League matches in Saudi Arabia with this permanent ban. Or in fact how Saudi citizens can watch most of the international sport legally?," the Qatari channel questioned.
Meantime, there is currently no legitimate way to watch football in the Premier League in Saudi Arabia, which plans to acquire Newcastle United.
beIN runs Premier League until 2021/22 season
The £ 300 million acquisition is still under consideration by the Premier League - as the issue of broadcast piracy is believed to be one of the reasons behind the delay in the process.
Meantime, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has released, earlier last month, a report saying that pirate broadcast network "beoutQ" has illegally broadcast beIN material.
It is noteworthy that beIN runs the Premier League until the end of the 2021/22 season.
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