Paris Court: ASO must honour its media rights contract with beIN for the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia

The Nanterre Commercial Court (greater Paris) ordered Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) to honour the exclusive five-year media rights contract it had signed for its competitions (2018-2023) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, entered into with beIN MENA LLC (beIN Media Group subsidiary operator in MENA), on 11/10/2019, following "ASO's unlawful attempt to unilaterally break beIN’s exclusive contract and give the media rights to Saudi Arabia," said the pay-TV group on 22/10/2019.

"beIN and ASO entered into a multi-million euro five-year deal granting beIN exclusive media rights in MENA to all ASO's major events, including the Dakar Rally, the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Nice, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Le Critérium du Dauphiné, Paris- Tours and the Paris Marathon from 2018 to 2023. Earlier this year, ASO suddenly moved the venue of the Dakar Rally from South America to Saudi Arabia from 2020 onwards. ASO then attempted to exit beIN’s agreement to license the media rights to a Saudi broadcaster and, to that end, unilaterally terminated beIN’s…