beIN Media Group ( /ˈbiːɪn/;

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: مجموعة بي إن الإعلامية, ''Majmū‘at Bī’in al-I‘lāmiyyah'') is a Qatari

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

global sport and entertainment network headquartered in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. beIN distributes entertainment, live sports action, and major international events across 5 continents, in 43 countries, and 7 languages spanning Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

History

beIN Sports was first launched, as a brand, in June 2012 by

Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media media conglomerate, conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera E ...

in France. On 1 January 2014, beIN Media Group was established and became the new independent holding company of beIN Sports. In October 2014, it was announced that beIN Media Group had agreed to acquire pay-TV sports channel Setanta Sports Australia, with Setanta being rebranded as beIN Sports Australia. In 2015, beIN Sports launched an HD channel specially dedicated to football in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The group declared in November 2015 that it would be expanding from sports-only programming to include entertainment and movies as well. It was announced in January 2016 that beIN Media Group secured an agreement with

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...

, allowing it exclusive rights to broadcast a number of Turner-licensed entertainment and news channels across the Middle East and North Africa. beIN Media Group has since signed strategic partnerships with

BBC Studios BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Wor ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, CBS,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

, and

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

. It was rumored in November 2015 that beIN Media Group were interested in purchasing

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

. On 1 March 2016, beIN Media Group announced its full acquisition of Miramax from

Filmyard Holdings Filmyard Holdings, LLC was an American pure holding company and is the former parent company of Miramax. They operated in between the years of 2010 to 2016. Colony Capital and Qatar Investment Authority own the studio. Rob Lowe is an investor ...

. A 49% interest in Miramax was sold to

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

in April 2020. It was announced in August 2016 that beIN Media Group acquired Turkish pay TV service Digiturk. In November 2019, beIN Media acquired exclusive broadcast rights for the 2019 and 2020

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

. Following the Covid-19 crisis, beIN is implementing a layoff plan for its activities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Anti-piracy campaign

beoutQ

In August 2017, beoutQ was launched illegally broadcasting via satellite and streaming over the internet premium sports and entertainment content worth billions of dollars. beIN Media Group has campaigned with leading sporting organizations and broadcasters from around the world to universally condemn piracy operations and call for decisive action to be taken to stamp out beoutQ and stop Saudi-based pay TV provider Arabsat from distributing the illegal broadcast channel. In October 2018, beIN Media Group launched a $1 billion international arbitration case against Saudi Arabia on the basis of beoutQ. In July 2018, FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and other sports rights holders disclosed that they will be launching legal action in Saudi Arabia. In December 2018, The

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

agreed to launch a dispute inquiry to determine whether Saudi Arabia has failed to protect Intellectual Property rights because of beoutQ.

References

External links

* {{BeIN Media Group Al Jazeera Mass media companies of Qatar Mass media companies established in 2014 Mass media in Doha Companies based in Doha Qatari companies established in 2014

History

Anti-piracy campaign

beoutQ

See also

References

External links