Indian advertisers breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after Zee Entertainment finally signed a deal with FIFA, football’s governing body, to broadcast the upcoming World Cup in a nation of nearly one-and-a-half-billion people.
The deal came through after months of deadlock between FIFA and Indian broadcasters over the valuation of rights. The deadlock was fast appearing to lead to a situation where one of the world’s biggest sporting spectacle, the FIFA World Cup 2026, would possibly not be available live in India.
India, in fact, was among the very few major markets where the telecast rights had remained unsold so near the start of the mega event on June 11.
As of now, the value of the deal has not been disclosed – FIFA had initially asked for nearly $100 million for the 2026 and 2030 editions but later slashed the demand to $60 million.
But Indian broadcasters were not ready to shell out even that amount for the tournament as the live telecast for most matches in India would begin past 12 midnight. This is because the 2026 World Cup is being held in the US, Canada and Mexico. This was seen as a major hurdle by the broadcasters in generating enough advertising revenue from the tournament to compensate for the money being paid for the rights.
As per information available, only 14 out of the total 104 World Cup games will kick-off before midnight India time. The final, to be held in New Jersey on July 19, will start at 12:30 am on July 20 in India.
If we compare with the previous editions, around 98% of matches started before midnight India time during the 2018 World Cup, and more than 82% at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
It was reported that JioStar was ready to shell out between $20-25 million for the deal but backed out once it became clear that FIFA was not keen on the same.
Zee Entertainment entered the race at the very last moment and was reported to offer between $30-35 million for the rights. The media house also announced the launch of 4 sports channels in anticipation of bagging the rights to telecast the Football World Cup.
Zee is looking to make a comeback to sports broadcasting in India where JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance and Disney-Star, holds key sports telecast rights, including for the Indian Premier League, ICC cricket tournaments and the English Premier League.
As per the announcement, Zee has bagged rights to telecast 39 FIFA tournaments in India through 2034, including the 2026 and 2030 FIFA World Cups and the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
With the deal for the 2026 edition finally done, Indian brands are now looking to capitalise on the football craze in the country, especially youngsters, as they believe the odd hour timing of matches would not hold back diehard football fans from tuning in.