American University in Cairo AUC Knowledge Fountain Theses and Dissertations 2-1-2019 Media piracy in the Middle East: A case study of 2018 world cup Ruba Sayed Follow this and additional works at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds Recommended Citation APA Citation Sayed, R. (2019).Media piracy in the Middle East: A case study of 2018 world cup [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/749 MLA Citation Sayed, Ruba. Media piracy in the Middle East: A case study of 2018 world cup. 2019. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/749 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by AUC Knowledge Fountain. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of AUC Knowledge Fountain. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy MEDIA PIRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST: A CASE STUDY OF 2018 WORLD CUP A Thesis Submitted to Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Ruba Nabeel Abd El-Raouf Sayed under the supervision of Prof. Hussien Amin January / 2019 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’m deeply grateful to my supervisor, Professor Hussien Amin, for his continuous guidance, encouragement, enthusiasm and endless patience. His availability, assistance and consistent providence of information were a great help to me. I consider myself very fortunate for being able to work with a very considerate and encouraging professor like him. I would also like to thank the readers of my thesis Dr. Rasha Allam and Prof. Firas Al- Atraqchi for their guidance, time and support; your discussion, ideas, and feedback have been absolutely invaluable. I extend my thankfulness to Prof. Azza Ahmed Heikal, Dean of College of Language and Communication, The Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport for her understanding and continuous support during my thesis. I deeply thank my Best-Friend, my Backbone, my Supporter and the reason for what I am today Shahinaz El-Samadoni for always believing in me, guiding me, helping me through the hardest times in my life, catching me every time I fall, giving me her time and encouraging me. Words are certainly not enough to express my gratitude to you. My sincere thanks also go to Perihan Sedky, Neveen Hashad, Heba Mamdouh and Mohamed Sedky for their endless help and support. You made me realize that friendship isn't about who you've known the longest. It's about who walked into your life and said “I'm here for you”. I express my sincere appreciation to my friends Asmaa El-Mously, Rania Magdy, Yara Rashad, Noran Yehia and Ahmed Khalifa for the love and support you have showered on me throughout this stage. A profound gratitude goes to my mother Mrs. Amani Mahgoub and my father Mr. Nabeel Abd El-Raouf for their continuous support, patience and endless care, and also to my brothers Mohamed Nabeel and Ahmed Nabeel for believing in me. Without the inspiration, drive & support you gave me, I might not be the person I am today. Last but not least, I would like to thank my Grandmother Zeinab Hassan, my Aunt Heba Mahgoub and my Uncle Tarek Mahgoub for all their concern and support to me during the thesis. ii My work is dedicated to my dear Grandpa, my precious Parents and my beloved Family iii ABSTRACT The main aim of this dissertation is to study the audience’s perception, awareness, behaviour and attitude towards pirating live sports broadcasting media content in one of the Middle Eastern countries, which is Egypt. Moreover, this research fills a gap in the literature by investigating the media landscape in the Middle East in the age of digitalization, presenting an overview of media piracy, internet penetration and social media usage in the region in general and in Egypt in specific. It also studies the recent piracy activity in the case of 2018 FIFA World Cup in Egypt, by examining the legal and illegal broadcasters in the Middle East. Hence, the core of this study is the Egyptian media audiences and football fans who watched the 2018 tournament either by using legal methods which are subscribing to beIN sports packages, since it was the only legal broadcaster in the region, or using other illegal techniques such as illegal television cables and illegal live streaming from the internet. The study is conducted on a purposive sample of 460 young Egyptians; their age varies between 18-30 based on previous statistics, which revealed that the millennials in MENA are the ones who violate the intellectual property of the media the most and they are altering the media landscape in the region. The research follows a triangulation method by combining two research approaches; in-depth interviews as a qualitative methodology and surveys as a quantitative one. The theoretical framework used in this study is the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Responsibility Theory. Also, this study revealed several different important factors that are related to pirating sports broadcasting media content, which are: 1) the impact of Egyptian youth on this phenomenon, 2) the factors that influence their intentions and behaviors to violate the intellectual property of the media, 3) the techniques that could be used to reduce piracy, 4) the audience awareness about this issue and the relationship between being a football fan and the size of sports pirated content, and 5) the correlation between the economic status of the audiences and the act of media piracy. Thus, the study at hand managed to outline the behavior of the Egyptian youth towards pirating the media. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures……..………………………………………………………………...viii List of Tables ………………………………………………………………….……....x List of Abbreviations …………………………………………………………..…....xii I. Introduction and Background ………………...........................................................1 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………1 2. Background of the Study………………………………………………1 3. Statement of Research Problem…………………………………..…...4 4. Objective of the Study…………………………………………………5 II. Literature Review………………………………….……………………................6 1. Media Landscape in the Middle East ……………………..……...…...6 1.1 Television……………………..…...........................................6 1.2 Digital Media……………………….………………………...9 2. Media Convergence…….…………………………………………….11 2.1 Digitalization…………………..…........................................11 2.2 The New Media……………………….………………..…...13 2.3 Internet and Social Media Usage in the Middle East and in Egypt………………………………………………...……….14 3. Media Piracy………………………………………………................16 3.1 Some Reflections on Piracy…………………..….................16 3.2 International Conventions of Copyright Law……………….17 3.3 Piracy at the Age of Convergence……………………...…...19 3.4 Is there any Good in Piracy…………………………………21 3.5 Sports Piracy………………………………………………..22 4. Media Piracy in the Middle East……………………………………..25 4.1 Overview on Piracy in the Middle East…………………….25 4.2 Reasons for Piracy……………………...…………………...29 4.3 Laws against Piracy in the Region………………………….30 5. 2018World Cup Legal and Illegal Broadcasters in the Middle East....43 5.1 Qatar Sports Network (beIN)……………………………….43 5.2 BeoutQ and Other Illegal Broadcasters in the Region……...45 v 5.3 Egypt and 2018 World Cup………………………………....48 III. Theoretical Framework….…………………………………………………........51 1. Theory of Planned Behavior.................................................................51 2. Social Responsibility Theory ...............................................................58 IV. Methodology ………………………………………………………...………….61 1. Significance of the Study…………………………………………….61 2. General Methodology……………………………...…………………61 2.1 The Survey……………………..……...…………………62 2.2 The In-depth Interview………………...…………………62 3. Defining the Universe…………………………………………….….63 4. The Sample…………………………………………………………...63 5. Research Questions and Hypotheses……………………………...….65 a. Research Questions and Hypotheses…………...………...…..65 b. Variables of Research Questions and Hypotheses…………...66 6. Testing Hypotheses and Research Questions…………………...……68 7. Operational Definition………………………..………………………71 8. Data Collection…………………………...…..………………………71 9. Reliability and Validity…………………………...………………….71 10. Approvals…………………………………………………………….72 11. Data Analysis…………………………………………….…………..73 V. Findings and Analysis ……….………………………………………….……… 74 1. Findings of the Survey Analysis and Analysis ………………….…...74 2. The Hypotheses and Research Questions……………………..…….106 3. Findings of the In-depth Interviews………………………………....113 a) The birth of media piracy in the region………………….114 b) The role of the internet on accelerating the Media Piracy. …………………………………………………………..114 c) The reasons behind the emergence of Media Piracy in the broadcasting industry………………………………..…..115 d) The effect of the economic factor on this phenomenon…116 e) The consequences of piracy on the broadcasting field…..116 vi f) The distribution rights of any broadcasting content…….117 g) The state’s proposed strategies to encounter media piracy…………………………………………………....117 h) Suggestions to reduce this phenomenon………………..118 i) People’s behavior and attitude towards any broadcasting media content……………………………………..……..118 VI. Conclusion and Discussion……………………………………………………..122 1. Discussion…………………………………………………………...122 2. Conclusion…………………………………………………….…….125 3. Limitations of the Study………………………………………….…127 4. Recommendations