Qatar-based TV channel beIN Sports was broadcast in Saudi Arabia on Monday after the two countries reconciled this month, ending a rift of more than three years, according to Reuters.
The sports channel was barred from broadcasting in Saudi Arabia since mid-2017, when relations between the two countries were suspended, and was even the subject of international litigation between the two countries during the 42-month long rift. In 2018, Qatar filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying Saudi Arabia was blocking beIN from broadcasting in the kingdom and said it had refused to take effective action against alleged piracy of beIN’s content by beoutQ.
Saudi Arabia and other GCC nations buried the hatchet with neighboring Qatar after a diplomatic standoff that lasted over three years. The two sides, working toward a fresh start in the last weeks of 2020, finalized the end of the feud at the 42nd GCC Summit in Saudi Arabia this month, reuniting to once again reinvigorate trade between the nations and form a bloc that will seek to counter the threats posed to them by neighboring Iran.
In June 2020, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Competition permanently banned beIN sports, saying in a statement it was also fining beIN Sports 10 million riyals ($2.7 million) for what it said were “monopolistic practices,” a charge the broadcaster denied at the time. It is not clear if the ban was officially lifted, or if the penalty was paid.
Reuters reported that “several cafes and restaurants in the capital Riyadh were using satellite dishes to show games of the Premier League on beIN Sports channels.”
BeIN Media Group told Reuters nothing had yet “materially changed as far as we are aware at this stage”.
“Our website is still fully blocked in Saudi Arabia and we have received no official communication from the Saudi authorities to suggest that our license has been re-instated,” a spokesperson of beIN said in a statement sent to Reuters. “However, like everyone, we are hopeful of positive moves by Saudi to allow beIN operations back in the country after 3.5 years. We await to see.”
