{"id":51319,"date":"2026-05-05T14:04:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=51319"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:04:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:34:57","slug":"fifa-yet-to-secure-broadcast-rights-in-india-and-china-ahead-of-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/fifa-world-cup\/fifa-yet-to-secure-broadcast-rights-in-india-and-china-ahead-of-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA yet to secure broadcast rights in India and China ahead of 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With only five weeks remaining until the <b>FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off on June 11<\/b>, millions of football fans in India and China are facing a potential total blackout. Despite the tournament featuring a record 48 teams across North America, FIFA has yet to secure media rights deals in the world\u2019s two most populous nations.\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Financial Deadlock in India<\/h3>\n<p>In India, negotiations have hit a standstill over a significant valuation gap. The Reliance-Disney joint venture (<b>JioHotstar<\/b>) reportedly offered <b>$20 million<\/b> for the 2026 rights\u2014a steep drop from the <b>$60 million paid for the 2022<\/b> edition. <b>FIFA is seeking closer to $100 million for a bundle including the 2026<\/b> and 2030 cycles.\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Industry experts cite several reasons for the low bids:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <b>Time Zone Challenges<\/b>: Matches hosted in the US, Canada, and Mexico will air during late-night or early-morning slots in India.\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <b>Commercial Viability<\/b>: Broadcasters are wary of high costs vs. advertising revenue, especially with the dominance of cricket.\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <b>Lack of Competition<\/b>: With Sony reportedly bowing out of the bidding process, the Reliance-led venture holds significant negotiating leverage.<\/p>\n<h3>Uncertainty in the Chinese Market<\/h3>\n<p>China, which accounted for nearly <b>50% of global digital viewing<\/b> hours during the 2022 World Cup, also remains without an official broadcaster. Historically, state broadcaster CCTV secures rights months in advance. The current silence is \u201chighly unusual\u201d and leaves little time for setting up broadcast infrastructure or selling advertising inventory.\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While FIFA insists that confidential discussions are ongoing, the clock is ticking. If a deal isn\u2019t reached soon, the 2026 World Cup could lose over <b>2<\/b>.<b>8 billion potential viewers<\/b>, marking a historic shift in global sports broadcasting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With only five weeks remaining until the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off on June 11, millions of football fans\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":51321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4658],"tags":[5100,2732,5052,4057],"class_list":["post-51319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-world-cup","tag-china","tag-fifa-club-world-cup","tag-india","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51323,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51319\/revisions\/51323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}