Saudi Arabia: planned launch of a platform for developing content and managing TV rights

Saudi Arabia, through the Saudi Sports Company (an entity affiliated to the Ministry of Sports), will launch "a platform for content development and managing TV rights," said Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal to the British newspaper Financial Times on 05/11/2020.

The future company will seek to acquire rights only in Saudi Arabia and not for the entire Middle East, according to the prince, who specified that initially it will concentrate on broadcasting rights for the competitions that the Kingdom organises, such as the future Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah in 2021 or the Spanish and Italian football Super Cups (see details of the competitions below).

The Minister was not concerned that accusations of supporting piracy might hamper Saudi Arabia's ability to obtain broadcasting rights, and stated that the government had fought piracy; "when we explain this to them (football leagues), they understand it," he added.

"We have been contacted by a number of (football) leagues, but have not reached a concrete agreement. We said we are not…