In a major development for football fans across the country, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and Prasar Bharati on a petition seeking free-to-air broadcast of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in India through public platforms such as Doordarshan and DD Sports.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued the notice while hearing a writ petition filed by advocate Avdhesh Bairwa under Article 226 of the Constitution. The plea urges the government and public broadcaster to ensure nationwide access to the tournament, which is scheduled to take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
According to the petition, no broadcaster in India has yet acquired the media rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 despite less than a month remaining before the tournament begins. The plea argues that this situation could deprive millions of Indian football fans from watching one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
The petitioner also informed the court that FIFA had initially valued the India broadcast rights package for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups at nearly 100 million US dollars, but later reduced the price to around 35 million dollars after limited interest from broadcasters. Even after the reduction, no final agreement has reportedly been reached.
The plea further stated that the FIFA World Cup has already been classified as a “sporting event of national importance” under the Sports Broadcasting Signals Act, 2007, making it necessary for Prasar Bharati to ensure public access to the tournament.
The petition highlighted India’s growing football audience and cited FIFA engagement data from the 2022 World Cup, where India reportedly emerged as one of the top global digital engagement markets. It also pointed out that DD Sports, DD Free Dish and the WAVES OTT platform have the infrastructure to broadcast the event nationwide.
The High Court is expected to hear the matter again next week.