Qatari "Bn Sports" subscribers in Saudi Arabia are "victims" of the Gulf crisis

Saudi lawyer Abdul Rahman, a fan of Barcelona club, renewed his participation in "BN Sports" channels with difficulty through a friend in Kuwait, and he considers him a victim of the Gulf crisis, one of the results of which was to ban the work of the Qatari network in the Kingdom.

Abdul Rahman, 25, told Agence France Presse that "BN Sports covers all leagues and tournaments. It is all in all in sports."

The slender young man, who preferred to give his first name only because of the sensitivity of the matter, continued, "I cannot do without BN Sports, it works for almost 24 hours at home."

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, and imposed an air, sea, and land blockade.

The Qatari Network reserves the exclusive rights to broadcast most of the major international and continental sports tournaments in the MENA region, which makes participation in it mandatory for football and many sports fans.

Bn Sports subscribers in the Kingdom are facing great difficulties in renewing their subscriptions, as Riyadh banned the sale and distribution of network devices in Saudi Arabia immediately after the outbreak of the crisis.

And Saudi Arabia, which has sports channels but does not have the rights to broadcast major international tournaments, imposed a ban on Qatari websites, and banned online money transfers to Qatari banks and companies.

"I had to send a bank transfer to my friend in Kuwait to renew my subscription card from there," said Abd al-Rahman, who is also a graduate student in law. He explained that it cost him an additional sum of money.

Like the hundreds of other Saudis, Egyptian engineer Abdel Moneim renewed his participation by circumventing the electronic and banking restrictions imposed on the network.

Abdelmoneim, who only mentioned his first name, while watching a match for his favorite team, Zamalek of Egypt in the African Championship via the channel with the scarlet slogan, said, "I have bypassed the blocking on the website by using the" VPN "program (virtual private network), then bypassed the ban on transfers. Finance via PayPal payment services. "

A Saudi man confirmed to me that they had done the same thing despite his "sophistication".

The network’s six distributors in Saudi Arabia closed their outlets, and it became impossible to see the Qatari network’s logo in the streets or on the fronts of cafes and restaurants.

A Saudi employee, who only mentioned his nickname Abu Iyad (45 years old) and a fan of Manchester City and squash, was forced to renew his subscription through the network's website in Algeria, but was unable to reach him from Saudi Arabia later.

"I love European football and squash, so I have no alternative to BN Sports," the man said, taking a breath after a squash match at a luxury sports complex in Riyadh.

Lucifer Street
The crisis has led to the emergence of a black market to renew network subscriptions through specialized agents, but at higher amounts, according to AFP reporters in Saudi Arabia.

Dish shops for satellite dishes are spread along Al-Hamdani Street in the Sulaymaniyah district in Riyadh, which the Saudis have for decades called the "Iblis Street", referring to the disadvantages of the content of some satellite channels.

As soon as a car of Agence France-Press journalists stopped near these stores, agents, most of whom were Asians, approached, whispering, "Do you want to renew BN Sports?"

While the official annual subscription to the full sports package cost about 1125 Saudi riyals (about 300 dollars), the lowest price that can be obtained from the agents is 1400 riyals.

The interface of any shop does not bear any reference to the Qatari network logo. The issue is also circulated among the pioneers with clear prudence and caution, due to the blocking of the network.

"We are not allowed to publicly deal with BN Sports," a store manager, who is Arab, said during the negotiation of a subscription renewal. "It is not possible to deal directly with Saudi Arabia with the network in Qatar, so we play the role of mediator," said the 50th man.

But he clarified, "We can renew existing subscriptions through agents abroad or bring new receivers through smuggling," without providing further details.

The Saudi authorities have not answered the questions of France Press regarding the possibility of lifting this ban and its impact on sports fans.

Victim of a political crisis
Qatar accuses Saudi Arabia of organizing "mass piracy" of its programs through the satellite operator "Arabsat" and a television channel called "B-Q" launched in the wake of the Gulf crisis, but Riyadh and Arabsat deny this.

B-TQ's TV broadcast stopped last August, but its transmission continues.

"For a long time, dealing with BN Sports here was like dealing with drugs," said a café manager in southern Riyadh, Muhammad, adding that the authorities had confiscated the Qatari network's receivers as soon as the crisis began.

Mohamed explained that he was forced to run "Bout Q", which his customers, the majority of whom came to view the Qatari network, which he described as the "lifeline" of his coffee shop, did not like.

"Saudi Arabia was our largest market in the Middle East and by a large margin," a spokesman for the network said in an interview with France Press, and stressed that "the real victims in all of this are Saudi sports fans."

He explained that the network is demanding international arbitration awards from Saudi Arabia, amounting to "one billion dollars for six months", which includes "the loss of subscribers, advertisements, and exorbitant legal and technological expenses" incurred.

The network has filed four arbitration cases against Riyadh since October 2018, but legal procedures will take a long time before reaching a decision.

Some of the followers resorted to watching the matches electronically, whether through stolen links or "B-Q". But lawyer Abdel-Rahman said, "Watching matches online is uncomfortable. I cannot guarantee that I will watch the whole match because of the fluctuation in the live broadcast."

"I love Barcelona and I want to easily watch their matches on TV. As a football fan, I have fallen victim to a political crisis in which I have no part."