Revenues for Premier League clubs such as Watford and Bournemouth will fall off a cliff unless online piracy is faced down, the world’s largest investor in TV rights has warned.
Yousef al-Obaidly, chief executive of the Qatar-based beIN Media Group, which has a $15bn portfolio of sports rights, told the Leaders Week conference in London that he was no longer prepared to bid so much for live sport.
“The glorious media rights bubble is about to burst,” he warned. “And the truth is that our industry is completely unprepared. In response to piracy, they are paying lip service to the problem.
“If you look at Premier League clubs, if you take Watford or Bournemouth, 88% or 90% revenue comes from broadcast revenues. So if we don’t do anything about piracy, you will have quite a reduction in the value of rights.”
Obaidly pointed the finger of blame directly at the Saudi Arabia-backed broadcaster beoutQ, which uses satellite technology to broadcast stolen beIN coverage. He said that 50% of fans in the UK had accessed Premier League streams – with a third not even knowing it was illegal.
“BeoutQ stole every single match in the Uefa Champions League for two years straight; every single match in the 2018 Fifa men’s World Cup and the 2019 Women’s World Cup; almost every single major football league game in Europe. The NBA, the NFL, Formula One, the Olympics and Wimbledon,” he said. “And apart from some slow legal responses and the occasional lobbying letter, the response from rights holders is simply not enough.
“In fact, the CEOs of Serie A and the Spanish FA continue to see no issue with hosting their flagship Super Cup games in the very country that has been stealing the commercial rights of all their broadcast partners for over two year, destroying the value of the Italian and Spanish game in the process.”
Obaidly urged the chief executives of federations, leagues, clubs and broadcasters to start shouting about piracy from the roof-tops, and engaging their sports ministers on the issue. He also said that it was time for cooperation with any governments aiding the pirates must end.
“I know that some rights holders currently invest more in their Christmas parties than on anti-piracy.”