Abstract
Of the many Arab Gulf state investments in international football, none have had the global reach or the regional impact of Qatar's BeIN Sports network. Since it became independent of Al Jazeera Sport in 2013, and through its acquisition of top-tier sports rights, BeIN has become a major plank in Qatar's efforts to brand itself as a global and regional power in the world of sports. The company broadcasts independently or with partners in Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia, but is far and away the dominant sports broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where it has more than 50 percent of the market and the rights to most top-tier sports events in the twenty-three countries it counts in its MENA portfolio. That market dominance was aggressively challenged in 2017, when BeIN suddenly found itself in a fight for its life with BeoutQ, an industrial-scale piracy operation based in Saudi Arabia that roiled international sports broadcasting. The story of that battle and what it means for football broadcasting in the Middle East is the focus of this chapter.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Football in the Middle East |
| Subtitle of host publication | State, Society, and the Beautiful Game |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Pages | 303-321 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780197659670 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781787387133 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 19 2023 |
Keywords
- BeIN Sports network
- Football
- Piracy
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Sports broadcasting
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Social Sciences