European Tour execs were accused of "turning a blind eye" to "industrial-scale" broadcast piracy by staging a tournament in Saudi Arabia this week, according to Rick Broadbent of the LONDON TIMES. The inaugural Saudi Int'l, which starts on Thursday, "has already proved controversial" because of the country’s human rights record and the assassination of a journalist in its Istanbul consulate last year. British golfer Paul Casey said that he was skipping the tournament because of the "human rights" issue, "but four of the world’s top five, including Justin Rose, are there." Now the event "has also become the focus in a long-running battle about broadcast piracy." Qatar-based beIN Media, which has a $15B rights portfolio, "has long accused the kingdom" of backing a pirate TV network called beoutQ which "illegally uses its feed." On Wednesday, beIN MENA Managing Dir Tom Keaveny "took the European Tour to task for having an event in Saudi Arabia against this backdrop." He said, "Over the past 18 months almost every sports body in the world -- from FIFA and UEFA to the Olympics, the NBA and Wimbledon -- have taken a stand against the Saudi Arabia-backed pirate operation beoutQ. It is therefore doubly surprising and hugely disappointing to see, in the same month that the Premier League is taking legal action in Saudi Arabia to protect its rights, the European Tour hosts a tournament [there]" (LONDON TIMES, 1/30).
