Dubai: Middle East online subscribers on Saturday were left a disappointed lot when beIN SPORTS, the rights holders of English Premier League (EPL), blocked streaming of Saturday night’s matches.
BeIN SPORTS CONNECT customers trying to watch any of the five 15:00 GMT (7 pm UAE) Premier League games on Saturday were met with a notice that the service was unavailable. “Due to exceptional and temporary right restrictions, this programme is temporarily unavailable on beIN SPORTS CONNECT,” the notice said.
Contacted by Gulf News on Sunday, a beIN SPORTS spokesperson said the broadcasters would not be commenting despite subscribers taking to Twitter overnight to vent their frustrations.
“Why is there no premier league coverage now with Connect? Most annoying and no explanation!?” tweeted one user.
BeIN SPORTS football anchor Richard Keys tweeted Saturday night that he was looking into the complaints. “Thanks for making me aware of the problems today guys. I’m asking questions,” he tweeted.
Pay television customers are understood to not have been affected with an Etisalat spokesperson telling Gulf News: “all matches were showed as per schedule” on the telecom’s eLife TV platform.
But Saturday’s notice is a reminder of just two years ago when the broadcaster intermittently stopped showing Saturday games as it struggled to combat piracy. Customers were later offered compensation.
BeIN SPORTS has the Premier League broadcast rights in 23 Middle East countries.
