Zee Entertainment Acquires FIFA Broadcast Rights for 2026 World Cup and More

Kathmandu. India's Zee Entertainment has signed an agreement with the International Football Federation (FIFA) regarding broadcast rights for various major football tournaments, including the 2026 Men's World Cup. This ends the months-long uncertainty over whether the World Cup would be broadcast in India.

According to the agreement made public on Monday, Zee has acquired the broadcast rights for the 2026 and 2030 Men's World Cups, the 2027 Women's World Cup, and a total of 39 FIFA tournaments to be held until 2034. The financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed. However, according to international media, FIFA had initially demanded around 100 million US dollars for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups, and later reduced the amount to around 60 million dollars.

This agreement is analyzed to provide new opportunities for Zee in the Indian sports broadcasting market. Currently, Reliance-Disney's joint venture company 'JioStar' holds the rights for everything from IPL cricket to English Premier League football in India's sports broadcasting sector.

The 2026 World Cup is scheduled to be jointly hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico starting June 11. The broadcast agreement has been finalized just 10 days before the tournament begins.
According to experts, the main reason for the delay in selling broadcast rights in India is the game's schedule. Due to the 10 to 12-hour time difference between the host countries and India, most matches will be broadcast in the middle of the night or later for Indian viewers.

Out of the total 104 World Cup matches, only 14 will start before midnight in India. The final match, to be held on July 19 in New Jersey, will start at 12:30 AM Indian time on July 20.

According to Karan Torani, Vice President of investment advisory firm Elara Capital, the television broadcasting market in India is currently facing challenges. According to him, many broadcasters were not keen on buying World Cup rights because a large portion of revenue from such sports events comes through digital platforms.

Torani mentioned that cricket dominates India's sports economy, and only a small fraction of IPL viewers are attracted to the Football World Cup, with even fewer viewers watching matches that take place after midnight.

Previously, 'Viacom-18' had purchased the broadcast rights for the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar for approximately 60 million US dollars. At that time, most matches were broadcast at convenient times for Indian viewers as Qatar was in a similar time zone to India.