MBC aims to combat Gulf piracy through Arabsat broadcasts Rebecca Hawkes
| 02 August 2016
Arabsat has been selected by MBC to broadcast its Gulf-focused channels and Saudi Pro League soccer coverage, in a move designed to help combat content piracy.
Sam Barnett MBC Group CEO Khalid Balkheyour ARABSAT CEO 1The first stage of the deal sees the return of the Saudi Football League to Arabsat, with the satellite operator broadcasting MBC Pro Sports from Monday 8 August for the Saudi Super Cup between Al Ahli and Al Hilal in London.
“We are pleased with this partnership between Arabsat and MBC Group; it is proof that the media industry is progressing in the right direction. Most important is the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the region through our commitment to prohibiting any channel from broadcasting pirated content, and so ultimately protecting and serving the Arab viewers’ interest,” said Khalid Bin Ahmed Balkheyour (pictured, left), Arabsat.
Sam Barnett (pictured, right), CEO, MBC Group, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Arabsat, and progressively we will be moving our Gulf focused channels exclusively onto Arabsat. Arabsat enjoys high viewership in general and in the GCC in particular and we’re sure that the addition of more exclusive MBC channels will boost Arabsat’s penetration further”.