UAE’s National Media Council accuses Qatar of politicizing beIN Sports

The United Arab Emirates National Media Council, NMC, has commended frequent, effective measures taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to fight piracy and protect intellectual property (IP) rights, and affirmed its rejection of any kind of piracy or illegal broadcast that breaches national laws and regulations.

“The NMC appreciates relentless efforts being exerted by the Saudi Ministry of Media in fighting media piracy by a pirate entity named ‘beoutQ’, as part of Saudi government's commitment to protecting IP rights,” said the NMC in a statement on Thursday.

The NMC censured Qatar’s attempts to drag the KSA into this issue, attributing Doha’s conduct to political motives due to its row with the anti-terror quartet: UAE, KSA, Kingdom of Bahrain and Arab Republic of Egypt. “Qatar is trying to cover its clear technical failure of protecting its sports channels against piracy,” the statement noted.

“'The NMC understands the reasons that prompted the KSA to ban the beIN Sports, a subsidiary of Al Jazeera Media Network (Al Jazeera), from broadcast on its territories because it provides a media platform to terrorists to propagate their message and promote terrorism,” the statement added.

The NMC condemned Qatar’s attempts to involve the beIN Sports into politics, which has been closely monitored and observed through its programs, which not only targeted the KSA, but also a number of Arab countries.

Concluding its statement, the NMC called for reviewing the legal status of beIN Sports in each state in light of these repeated involvements of sports into politics, especially during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.