CAN 2025 : beIN Sports cracks down on Moroccan cafes

This is the nightmare of cafe owners during this football celebration period. In the middle of a decisive play, the image suddenly disappears to be replaced by an unambiguous warning message, indicating that the use of the subscription is "contrary to the law". This phenomenon, which has been multiplying in recent days across Morocco, marks a turning point in the fight against audiovisual piracy. The Qatari group, the exclusive rights holder of the competition for the MENA region, has decided to crack down on the misuse of cards intended for individuals for public and lucrative use.

The practice is well known: to reduce their costs, many managers subscribe to standard residential offers, much less expensive than the commercial ("Business") licenses required for in-venue broadcasting. While this trick has long worked, the broadcaster has beefed up its game. The monitoring systems are now able to distinguish a family living room from a crowded terrace. For customers, the sanction is immediate: no more image, and a frustration that often turns against the owner of the establishment.

To track down the fraudsters, the broadcasting companies rely on an increasingly sophisticated technological arsenal. According to industry experts, several criteria make it possible to catch the offenders remotely. The system notably analyzes the geolocation of the subscription to verify if it corresponds to a residential or commercial address. In addition, the intensive use of the signal, such as simultaneous broadcasting on several screens or projectors connected to the same domestic decoder, is an anomaly that automatically triggers the blocking. Faced with this intransigence, cafes now have no choice but to pay up to regularize their situation if they want to continue to attract crowds on match nights.