Qatar's BeIN Sports to broadcast 22 World Cup games free across Middle East

Qatar’s BeIN Sports channel announced on Friday that it will make 22 World Cup games free for viewing for fans in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Doha-based channel has exclusive rights to broadcast the tournament in the region, and will be covering all 64 of the tournament’s matches.

A BeIN spokesman said on Friday that Qatar’s opening match against Ecuador will be among the games freely available.

On Friday, BeIN also issued a statement dismissing rumours that it would be imposing a three-minute delay on match broadcasts to censor LGBT content, alcohol consumption and smoking.

"Sadly, we’re in the realm of major disinformation campaigns and attacks at the moment, which are increasingly wild but yet still covered by some media," read a statement from a BeIN Sports sent to the Middle East Eye.

"To confirm – the document is completely fake.”

The rumours spread on social media in a post claiming to be a directive from the Qatar Media Corporation, ordering BeIN to censor footage showing alcohol consumption, smoking and "scenes that show groups or individuals of homosexuals, including their slogans, flags and everything that indicates them".

The post also claimed that the channel would be forced to censor people seen "practicing non-Islamic religious rites or rituals, and those that indicate political or sectarian affiliation".