ABU DHABI // BeIN Sports’ customer service is not good enough, the TV channel’s top presenter has admitted.
Richard Keys, who fronts the broadcaster’s coverage on big football match days, spoke out after many viewers trying to watch live Premier League football from England again faced blank screens.
One fan complained on Twitter that he had spent Dh1,500 on new equipment and tried to register it with beIN Sports without success. “It’s a joke,” he said.
Keys responded: “I’ll ask a few questions. That’s not good enough.”
BeIN Sports' broadcasts have been disrupted for a month amid an encryption upgrade the company calls Go Secure, designed to crack down on viewers watching pirated broadcasts overseas.
On Saturday, only hours before the football kick-off in England, the company announced on Twitter that viewers with Humax HD-Free or Humax IR-3000 HD receivers would be unable to view encrypted channels until they had completed an online registration process.
“Why did they have to do it on a game day, why not wait until the middle of the week?” said Darren Ball, a British expatriate who has lived in Abu Dhabi for five years.
Mr Ball spent 35 minutes on hold to beIN customer service to try to register his receiver, before giving up and trying again.
After viewers filled in their details online, an SMS was supposed to be sent instructing them on the next step, but Mr Ball did not receive a message.
“I took to Twitter, asked what was going on and played around with my system. I tried calling again on Saturday morning and this time it worked.
“We just want to watch the football at the end of the day. We can’t fly home to watch each game, you just want to watch your club.
”It has cost me close to Dh2,000 in new cards and boxes already.”
ksinclair@thenational.ae
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
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Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
AIDA%20RETURNS
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THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
