Television channels belonging to Qatar-based beIN Sports have gone dark for thousands of Emirati viewers after the broadcaster complained its content was being pirated, reported Al Jazeera.

UAE digital television company Du said on Saturday the outage was a result of action taken by beIN Sports.

“We regret to inform that our customers are temporarily unable to view beIN sports channels and packages as a result of a decision by the broadcaster of beIN Sports,” it said in a statement on its website without elaborating.

The Middle East Eye reported a source with knowledge of the situation said the disruption in the United Arab Emirates had been caused by ongoing commercial negotiations and had nothing to do with political disputes or pirating.

Saturday’s incident comes after beIN said its channels were being pirated across the region, with images allegedly being broadcast illegally by a company called beoutQ, which is apparently based in Saudi Arabia.

beIN Media had said on Sunday that ‘lengthy’ talks with Emirates telecom company Du had broken down.

“After lengthy negotiations it has not been able to reach to this day an agreement to continue its services over DU’s Network. In light of this, the service has ceased on the Network on June 2nd, 2018 as the contract between the parties had expired on May 31st, 2018. The GROUP has further acted in good faith by granting the Network an extension of 24 hours to conclude the renewal process and sustain the service to no avail,” beIN Media was quoted as saying by The Peninsula.

Du and Etisalat are the only two telecom companies in the United Arab Emirates showing channels from beIN. An agreement with Etisalat has been reached so that it can continue to broadcast beIN channels to its customers.

Late breakthrough?

There are unsubstantiated reports that a late breakthrough has been made and that beIN Sports channels will soon reappear in Du’s network. However, more details are awaited.

Picture courtesy: Al Jazeera