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The Brazen Bootlegging of a Multibillion-Dollar Sports Network (nytimes.com)
What do you do when your multibillion dollar sports network has been stolen? For the last several days, executives at Qatar's beIN Sports, which functions as the ESPN of the Middle East, have been pondering the same question. For the last several months, live coverage of beIN Sports feed is being broadcast on nearly a dozen beoutQ channels, a bootlegging operation seemingly based in Saudi Arabia, whose roots lie in the bitter political dispute between Qatar and a coalition of countries led by its largest neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. From a report: The coalition countries have subjected Qatar to a punishing blockade over the past year. Those countries last year accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and criticized its relationship with Iran, an ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. They enacted an embargo, cut off diplomatic ties and set up the blockade of the energy-rich emirate, closing Qatar's access to many of the region's ports and much of its airspace. Qatar has denied the allegations and has claimed it has assisted the United States in its war on terrorism.
Now, one month before the start of the World Cup, the world's most-watched sporting event and beIN's signature property, the audacious piracy operation is positioned to illicitly deliver the tournament's 64 games to much of the Middle East. Qatar, despite abundant resources, has been powerless to stop it. Decoder boxes embossed with the beoutQ logo have for months been available across Saudi Arabia and are now for sale in other Arab-speaking countries. A one-year subscription costs $100. A Bangladeshi worker reached by phone at Sharif Electronics in Jeddah this week said his shop has been selling the boxes for three months. "Many people buy them," he said.
Now, one month before the start of the World Cup, the world's most-watched sporting event and beIN's signature property, the audacious piracy operation is positioned to illicitly deliver the tournament's 64 games to much of the Middle East. Qatar, despite abundant resources, has been powerless to stop it. Decoder boxes embossed with the beoutQ logo have for months been available across Saudi Arabia and are now for sale in other Arab-speaking countries. A one-year subscription costs $100. A Bangladeshi worker reached by phone at Sharif Electronics in Jeddah this week said his shop has been selling the boxes for three months. "Many people buy them," he said.
If you read the article it literally says that beoutQ is inserting their own commercial breaks, so no advertisers are getting a wider audience.
Their business model is not the issue - another company is conspiring with a foreign government to block their signals, drastically cutting their subscriber base. Then, to add insult to injury, they are re-transmitting the exact same content, without paying for it, to the subscribers they are no longer allowed to sell to AND inserting their own advertising.
The last paragraph of the article says it best “They’ve created a brand without any acquisitions.”
this is Hilariously simple to stop. buy a box, send a signal out to each subscriber one at a time (or ten, or fifty) identifying the specific subscriber in a concealed manner, once you find out what they're doing to steal the signal broadcast donkey porn instead, but only during the big games.
Now Qatar can point to this, and the Jews will see it as a threat.
Soon Disney and Comcast will mobilize their legions, Fox, Paramount, and Viacom will not be far behind. And to be honest, MLB, the NFL, and the NBA will all feel threatened.
That means for once, all races will be united. Even the Canadians.
Good job, Riyadh, now you shall suffer the wrath of the most vicious monsters to walk the Earth since the Aztecs.
once you find out what they're doing to steal the signal broadcast donkey porn instead, but only during the big games.
No, they want to stop people from watching.
So I guess Muhammad never weighted in strongly on signal piracy. I guess it's ok then.
What are the chances its a secret subsidiary of the same company? If they don't complain at all, people would assume it is and shut it down. By gently complaining, it seems like an external entity, so they get to keep those external ad dollars coming in (possibly tax free). It sure makes it easier to insert those ads on the fly.
Pirate Saudi's stuff in retaliation.
Table-ized A.I.
But it's a catharsis. It probably prevents war.
Table-ized A.I.
maybe some deepfakes with the crown prince? That would be SO hilarious!
And then you have to be using a way to mark it that doesn't degrade service for your customers, isn't detectable by your target (or they'll just strip it), and isn't destroyed by re-encoding.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
It's not "stolen", it's copied.
Not sure what they expect. They're using shit-tier encryption. This doesn't happen on a large scale with Dish and DirecTV anymore because they stepped up their game with encryption.
"..perhaps they need to re-think their business model."
Better known as never opposing an imperialist initiative conceived by the United States. Such are the consequences (at the moment) for a failure to abide.
If there's no legal distribution of their content within Saudi Arabia, perhaps they should start making sure that most of the content of interest to Saudis also includes strong subversive and anti-government propaganda. After all, it's not like they're transmitting it to Saudi Arabia.
fencepost
just a little off
The words "pot" and "kettle" spring to mind.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This problem is actually super easy to solve.
Insert random overlays that criticize the Saudis and the Saudi royal family.
Once that happens, the Saudis will censor the bootleg channel themselves. That's it. Problem solved.
You broadcast a unique ID to all your viewers and see which one comes up on the stream. Then you kill said viewer (this is the middle east, yes?)
Did I miss something in this obvious 2-step process?
>Those countries last year accused Qatar of supporting terrorism
That's rich coming from Saudi-Arabia
For those not familiar with the business model that BeIn uses:
They sign exclusive rights for the entire Middle East from whatever agency is responsible for broadcasting the World Cup. In just one fell swoop they exclude millions of people that can't afford the $400 subscription from watching the games. What they end up basically doing is confining the games to those with the money for satellite and/or the disposable income to go watch it at restaurants.
These aren't teenagers that are buying these boxes. More than likely it's poor people that make about $100 to $200 a month trying to enjoy some leisurely football that's available for free or at a fraction of the price in other more advanced countries.
Right, all they have to do is create a major diplomatic incident during the world's most-watched sports broadcast. Simple.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Oh, right the ones with the "no lower limit" religious exception for marriage....Fuck 'em?