A recent supplier deal inked between Qatari TV network group OSN and Dutch content security vendor Irdeto sparked two thoughts. The first is the infamous beoutQ content piracy scandal that illicitly siphoned multiple $millions from Middle Eastern broadcasters between 2017 and 2019. Is something similar brewing? Are the pirates back? This initial alarmist thought is compounded by the second, where we recall that OSN has previously spoken publicly about its resistance to recruiting third-party support from specialist content protection vendors in the battle against pirates. The arrival of Irdeto therefore marks a U-turn on this policy for OSN. Speaking at the Broadcast Pro MENA Anti-Piracy Conference, in November 2020, Hanif Khan, Director of Anti-Piracy and Content Security at OSN, suggested…