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12 January 2017
By Yasmine Saleh
The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) said on Tuesday it has filed a complaint to the state’s public prosecutor against beIN Sports, a Qatari-run sports network.
The ECA said in a press statement sent to Zawya on Tuesday that beIN Sports had violated Egyptian competition laws by “abusing its dominant position in the Egyptian market by forcing its customers to incur the unjustified costs”.
The sports channel was also accused of forcing its Egyptian customers to receive its programmes through the Qatari satellite Es’hailSat, rather than the local Egyptian satellite Nile SAT, the statement said.
A Cairo-based subscriber to the beIN Sports network told Zawya that customers were notified this month about the change in the use of satellites but it was not yet clear if the move will result in higher bills for users.
ECA said it had decided to refer the company’s violations to the Egyptian prosecutor’s office to press criminal charges against the channel, adding that beIN Sports could get fined up to 10 percent of the profit it earned from packages that were the focus of the complaint. This could be doubled if the channel does not comply, the statement said.
BeIN Sports was not immediately available for comment.
Egypt has accused Qatar of backing the Muslim Brotherhood political group and sees the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera satellite network, which is the parent company of beIN Sports, as a mouthpiece for the Islamist group.
Several journalists from Al Jazeera’s pan-Arab satellite news channel have been arrested in Egypt over the past years. An Al Jazeera news producer was arrested last month on accusations of "provoking sedition". A Cairo court in May last year also recommended the death penalty against two Al Jazeera journalists, Reuters reported. The journalists were charged in absentia with endangering national security by leaking state secrets to Qatar.
(Editing by Shane McGinley)
© Zawya 2017
By Yasmine Saleh
The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) said on Tuesday it has filed a complaint to the state’s public prosecutor against beIN Sports, a Qatari-run sports network.
The ECA said in a press statement sent to Zawya on Tuesday that beIN Sports had violated Egyptian competition laws by “abusing its dominant position in the Egyptian market by forcing its customers to incur the unjustified costs”.
The sports channel was also accused of forcing its Egyptian customers to receive its programmes through the Qatari satellite Es’hailSat, rather than the local Egyptian satellite Nile SAT, the statement said.
A Cairo-based subscriber to the beIN Sports network told Zawya that customers were notified this month about the change in the use of satellites but it was not yet clear if the move will result in higher bills for users.
ECA said it had decided to refer the company’s violations to the Egyptian prosecutor’s office to press criminal charges against the channel, adding that beIN Sports could get fined up to 10 percent of the profit it earned from packages that were the focus of the complaint. This could be doubled if the channel does not comply, the statement said.
BeIN Sports was not immediately available for comment.
Egypt has accused Qatar of backing the Muslim Brotherhood political group and sees the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera satellite network, which is the parent company of beIN Sports, as a mouthpiece for the Islamist group.
Several journalists from Al Jazeera’s pan-Arab satellite news channel have been arrested in Egypt over the past years. An Al Jazeera news producer was arrested last month on accusations of "provoking sedition". A Cairo court in May last year also recommended the death penalty against two Al Jazeera journalists, Reuters reported. The journalists were charged in absentia with endangering national security by leaking state secrets to Qatar.
(Editing by Shane McGinley)
© Zawya 2017
