BeIN Threatens Serie A For $500m Over Saudi Deal

BeIN Sports are threatening Serie A with cancelling their overseas TV rights after the league decided to take their Supercup to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most prominent places where the channel is illegally broadcast from around the world, and BeIN are unhappy with the fixture being played in a country that so often breaks their anti-piracy rules.

BeIN owns a huge amount of the league’s overseas broadcast rights, and were they to cancel their contract with the league it would cost Serie A in the region of $500million.

BeoutQ is a Saudi Arabian station which illegally broadcasts many tv channels, particularly BeIN Sports, who are currently suing the company for $1billion.

A BeIn spokesman commented: ‘BeIN is actively reconsidering its entire commercial relationship with Serie A following the league’s decision to go ahead with its Super Cup match next month in Saudi Arabia, the country responsible for the mass theft of the league’s premium sports rights for over two years.

‘It is astonishing that the league has decided to press ahead despite all the evidence of the damage that has been done to the league’s business by BeoutQ, Saudi’s pirate operation.

‘It is remarkable what Serie A is seemingly prepared to jeopardise – not only all the financial revenues from one of its biggest broadcaster partners, but also the exposure BeIN gives to the league in markets all around the world, from Europe to Asia and all across the Middle East and North Africa. Serie A’s leadership is putting at risk all of this, in favour of making a quick buck from the very entity that has been stealing its rights for two years.’

However, Serie A’s Luigi Di Siervo said: “When I was elected as Lega Serie A chief executive in February 2019, I found a multi-year agreement to play the next Italian Super Cup finals in Saudi Arabia.”