Saudi Arabia has applauded  FIFA’s decision to take legal action in the Kingdom against a pirate TV channel illegally broadcasting the World Cup.  The Saudi Arabian government has denied the charges that BeoutQ is working from the Kingdom and has operations there.

The Ministry of Media reinstated that the  FIFA action would add to the efforts of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Commerce and Investment to control both beoutQ’s and beIN ’s activities and illegal broadcasting from the country. FIFA’s action would also help KSA to protect its intellectual property rights within the kingdom. The Ministry of Media said it blamed beIN Sports, a subsidiary of the Al Jazeera Media Network, for “falsely and unfairly” connecting Saudi Arabia with beoutQ. The country has already banned Qatar-based Al Jazeera and beIN Sports from broadcasting in the country as part of a boycott against Doha over its support for extremist groups.

However, beIN Sports says that it holds the rights to broadcast the 2018 World Cup in the Middle East and North Africa. The KSA Ministry of Media accused beIN sports that it’s unnecessarily propagating violent messages through its broadcasting. The statement reported on the Saudi Press Agency said that while beoutQ's pirate broadcasts have been available in the Kingdom, its set-top boxes are available in, other nations in the Middle East and North Africa and the pirate broadcasts are targeted at that region, including Qatar but also Eastern Europe. The ministry also stated that beIN Sports spreading a negative campaign against Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom will do every possible measure to curb their activities.