Qatar-based pay-TV operator beIN Media Group set up a "reveal all" website to expose what it describes as "the industrial scale theft" of sports and entertainment content by Saudi Arabia-based pirate outfit beoutQ, which beIN alleges "is supported by the Saudi government," according to Stuart Thomson of DIGITAL TV EUROPE. The website sets out what beIN says is a "mountain of evidence" against the pirate outfit. Originally a website geoblocked to Saudi Arabia to provide an alternative to beIN Media as part of the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, beIN says that beoutQ "has since grown" to become "the most sophisticated piracy operation that the world has ever seen" with 10 encrypted channels illegally broadcasting content stolen from sports rights holders including UEFA, the Premier League, La Liga, the NFL and the NBA, among others. BeIN claims that beoutQ has also "provided access to pirated live TV and on-demand movie content" including 10,000 major int'l movies and up to 35,000 TV show episodes in different languages. BeIN says that beoutQ’s threat "is no longer confined to the Gulf region, with access now available" in markets including the U.K., Switzerland and the U.S. BeIN Media Group CEO Yousef Al-Obaidly said, "For the past 18 months beoutQ has brazenly stolen on a daily basis the commercial rights of almost every major sports rights holder and every movie studio around the world; and attempted to sabotage our broadcast business at the same time" (DIGITAL TV EUROPE, 1/16).
