JEDDAH/LONDON: Qatar-owned beIN Media Group is to pay more than SR30 million ($8 million) in compensation to the Saudi Selevision company after a ruling by the First Instance Court at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). Arab News has received a copy of the court’s ruling.

The court rejected a lawsuit submitted by the beIN Media Group against Selevision, and ordered beIN media to pay compensation to Selevision of more than $7 million, in addition to the cost of arbitration of more than $600,000, as well as interest at an annual rate of 8 percent.

The beIN Sports group approached the court previously requesting the cancellation of an arbitration decision issued on June 5, 2018 at the London International Court of Arbitration at the DIFC, which ruled in favor of Selevision and ordered beIN Media Group to pay $7,356,01.22, in addition to arbitration costs of $692,002.66.

The court’s ruling was issued as a result of the arbitration proceedings of the London International Court of Arbitration at the DIFC filed by Selevision against beIN Sports, which began on June 16, 2016. The two-day substantive session was held in Oman’s capital Muscat in September 2017.

As a result of the judgment of Judge Shamlan Al-Sawalhi in the Court of First Instance on June 20, 2019, beIN was ordered to pay compensation to Selevision within 30 days from the date of the judgment. The judge also annulled beIN’s motion to overturn the judgment.

Last month, the president of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris court rejected beIN SPORTS allegations against the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat), ordering that the media group pay fines of €6,000 ($6,770) to Arabsat’s adviser, as well as paying the prosecution costs of Arabsat (€25,000).

Welcoming the court’s decision, Arabsat said that it “greatly values and respects the integrity of the French judiciary, which has skillfully and professionally addressed the allegations of Qatar’s Al Jazeera subsidiary, beIN SPORTS.”