Wimbledon organisers call for UK government action on piracy
The organisers of the Wimbledon tennis championship have condemned alleged piracy of this year’s event on the beoutQ platform.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said yesterday, July 14, that the Wimbledon championship had been available in its entirety on beoutQ for the second-year running.
“The exclusive rights of the AELTC’s broadcast partners - including but not limited to beIN SPORTS, BBC, Canal+, ESPN – have been accessible worldwide through beoutQ’s bespoke IPTV apps, which is not only wholly unlawful, but undermines the commercial value of Wimbledon’s IP all around the world,” the AELTC said in a statement.
According to the AELTC and others, including Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports, beoutQ is based in Saudi Arabia and supported by the Saudi government.
The AELTC said it would be making the “strongest representations” to the UK government to pressure Saudi Arabia on the issue.
The press release called on the UK government to urge Saudi Arabia to “immediately” shut down beoutQ.
In May, the UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sport secretary of state Jeremy Wright said that the British government had been in contact with Saudi officials about beoutQ.
Saudi officials have consistently denied that the regime is linked to beoutQ.
Others, including beIN, have contended that beoutQ is distributed via regional satellite provider Arabsat, in which Saudi Arabia is the largest shareholder.
Earlier this month, the Confederation of African Football said that all 36 group matches of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, currently being held in Egypt, were distributed illegally via beoutQ and Arabsat.
At the time of the statement, Arabsat did not respond to a request for comment.
The satellite provider has, however, consistently denied any role in distributing pirated content.
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