The official streaming partner for the World Cup in Saudi Arabia, Tod TV, has faced an “interruption” since the start of the competition.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
The Saudis are deprived of a large part of the World Cup matches. The official Qatari official streaming platform broadcasting the competition is partially inaccessible in Saudi Arabia for unknown reasons, confirmed, on Saturday, November 26, the BEIN group, as well as subscribers.
Official partner The World Cup, Tod TV is owned by the Qatari group, which was blocked in Saudi Arabia for several years due to a diplomatic crisis in the Gulf, before becoming accessible in October 2021.
“For reasons that escape our control, we are faced with an interruption in Saudi Arabia, which currently affects Tod TV”, regretted Bein in a message sent to his partners and his subscribers, adding that “information complementary will be provided as soon as they are available “.
Questioned by the France-Presse agency (AFP), the Saudi authorities did not respond to clarification requests. TOD TV is the official streaming service of the World Cup in twenty-four countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
Several subscribers in Saudi Arabia told AFP on Saturday that they had not been able to access the service since the start of the World Cup on November 20. One of them assured that the service had cut about an hour before the opening of the opening ceremony on November 20.
Another subscriber said that the broadcast had been interrupted on Saturday, before the appearance of an error message after ten minutes: “Sorry, the requested page is in violation of the rules of the Ministry of the Media.” “I want my money,” castigated a subscriber, adding that his attempts to obtain a reimbursement of the service, which costs the equivalent of almost 80 euros per month, have been in vain until then.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt had broken their relations with Qatar in 2017, accusing it in particular of supporting extremist groups and fueling the troubles in the Middle East through its Al-Jazira news channel. Doha has always denied.
Since January 2021, relations between Riyadh and Doha have improved significantly. The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Ben Salman, attended the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar, carrying a scarf in the colors of the small neighboring country.