The annual report of the US Commercial Representative Office (USTR) put Saudi Arabia on the black list of the ten worst countries in the world in protecting intellectual property rights, and added it to the list of "priority monitoring countries" due to the illegal broadcasting of championships and sports competitions through the "B-Q" channel "Piracy, as an exceptional review of the Kingdom began, due to its continued failure to protect intellectual property rights."
The US report came several months after a report by the European Union in which it accused Saudi Arabia of "causing great harm to European commercial interests" because of "P-Q" piracy and Arabs sat the rights of European sports championships.
In the context, a report by the British newspaper The Guardian revealed that the Premier League (Premier League) asked the US government last February to keep Saudi Arabia on the watch list because the Kingdom "remained a center of piracy" and supported illegal broadcasting through the "B out Q" channel. ".
These reports come at a time when the Saudi Investment Fund, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is seeking to acquire Newcastle FC by purchasing 80% of the club’s owner for $ 370 million, which represents a major obstacle to completing this deal that has aroused world public opinion. And the British.
The British newspaper reported that the B-out Q channel illegally transmitted between 2107 and 2019 the licensed content of Qatar's BN Sports network, which owns the broadcast rights to the English Premier League football in the Middle East and North Africa.
Although Arabsat, owned by Saudi Arabia, denied having any relationship with the pirated channel "BUT Q", the English Premier League criticized the weakness of the Saudi government measures that did not take any legal action against B out Q, which proved to be broadcast from Saudi territory and broadcast a channel Al Jazeera video clips from inside its headquarters.
The Guardian concluded that the Premier League concluded its message to the US government by emphasizing that Saudi Arabia continues to refuse to provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, as the Kingdom remained a piracy center, which negatively affects broadcasters throughout the world.
The letter indicated that the English Premier League had failed to prosecute "P-Q" piracy, requiring the US Trade Representative's office to place Saudi Arabia on the priority watch list.
International and human rights organizations are launching a major attack on Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, including Amnesty International, because of attempts to "wash its face" through sports and the purchase of the Newcastle Club, in light of its history of human rights violations, and its involvement in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Kingdom consulate in Istanbul.