JEDDAH: Authorities in Saudi Arabia have continued to crack down on the sale and use of broadcasting devices used to bootleg sports channels, ahead of the start of the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament later this month.
More than 8,000 such devices have been confiscated from retailers in the Kingdom “in the last few weeks,” according to authorities, which have launched formal procedures against the offending distributors.
Such moves confirm authorities’ “serious efforts to reject any attempts to override and sell bootlegging devices,” a statement said.
The confiscated devices were destroyed in the presence of representatives from the government agencies involved in the campaign. Saudi Arabia is expected to continue its oversight work on all outlets that may have such violations.
Authorities confiscated about 5,000 other devices in earlier operations, while intensive and periodic campaigns revealed new violations by outlets. Devices were seized and formal procedures were implemented against retailers.
The scope of TV piracy in Saudi Arabia and the wider region is difficult to assess; research analysts IDC in 2015 estimated that illegal content distribution across the Middle East and Africa cost the industry more than $750 million per year.
Fellow research analysts Digital TV Research in January estimated that average revenue per user for pay-TV providers would fall in 2018, due in part to rampant piracy in the region.
The MENA Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition — which includes regional satellite operators, distribution companies and international studios such as Paramount and Sony Pictures — said in April that 22 pirate television channels had been shut down during the previous year.
The coalition estimated that there had been 2.7 billion downloads of pirated content during the previous year.
“Content piracy in the Middle East takes money away from the legitimate producers and broadcasters and transfers it to organized criminals,” said Sam Barnett, the CEO of MBC Group, in a statement in April.
“This is hugely destructive to our sector and a constraint on growth. We believe much more can be done to stop this blight with cooperation across all ... players and regulators.”
Saudi Arabia confiscates 8,000 devices for bootlegging one of the sport channels
Saudi Arabia confiscates 8,000 devices for bootlegging one of the sport channels
- The number of devices confiscated by the competent authorities in the last few weeks exceeded 8,000 devices in a number of violating outlets
- Intensive and periodic campaigns revealed some new violations that were seized and the formal procedures have been implemented against offenders
To infinity and beyond: Grendizer’s 50 years of inspiring Arabs
- 50 years after its creation, the Grendizer anime series continues to capture Arab imagination
- Arab News Japan speaks to creator Go Nagai, Middle Eastern fans and retells the story behind the UFO Robot tasked with protecting our planet
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
