Brazil 2014: ZDF will not broadcast unscrambled matches in Middle East and North Africa (FIFA)

"Contrary to some reports about the 2014 FIFA World Cup coverage in the Middle East and Northern Africa, including statements attributed to ZDF, FIFA’s broadcast partner in Germany, ZDF will not be broadcasting unscrambled matches on the Eutelsat Hot Bird satellite platform during the 2014 World Cup," said FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) on 23/04/2014.

Several media outlets in the Middle East and North Africa had recently claimed that the German public broadcaster, ZDF (which holds the media rights to the World Cup in Germany), together with ARD (another public broadcaster in Germany), would broadcast unscrambled matches of the 2014 World Cup (Brazil, from 12/06 to 13/07/2014) on Eutelsat Hot Bird and Astra, available in the Middle East and North Africa.

That decision that would have pushed, according to these media outlets, pay-TV group beIN Sports, holder of TV rights of the 2014 World Cup in all the countries of Middle East and North Africa, to bring a complaint against ZDF, forcing the German channel to encrypt competition matches on Eutelsat Hot Bird…