Saudi Bans Bein, Further Complicating Newcastle Deal

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has officially banned the Premier League’s exclusive broadcaster in the Middle East – beIN Sport – from operating in the country.

The announcement now adds a further layer of complication to the proposed £300m takeover of Newcastle United by the nation’s investment fund, currently awaiting Premier League approval.

With this move, there is now no way to legally watch the Premier League in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Government have claimed that the broadcaster has ‘absued its dominant postion through several monopolistic practices’, but Qatar-based beIN have labelled the move as ‘nonsensical on every single level’.

The World Trade Organisation has previously ruled that Saudi Arabia has breaching international piracy laws by blocking beIN and broadcaster through pirate channel beoutQ. Following this, the UK Government was urged to block the Newcastle United takeover.

Saudi Arabia denies aiding the beoutQ operation and insists there is no link between the Government – and therefore the takeover fund – and piracy.