Zee enters fray for FIFA World Cup rights

Panaji: Zee network has made a formal offer to FIFA for the World Cup 2026 rights and held talks with officials from the governing body of world football during its recent visit to India.
FIFA has struggled to find a broadcast partner for India since there is a mismatch between what the governing body wants and what broadcasters in the country are willing to offer.
After stitching a deal in China, another huge market in the continent, FIFA officials arrived in India last week and held discussions with potential bidders. No deal has been locked yet but discussions with Zee are understood to be positive.
According to reports, Zee Entertainment Enterprises is planning to return to the sports broadcasting space, which it left more than a decade ago. The FIFA World Cup 2026 could emerge as an attractive product to relaunch itself and attract eyeballs.
“After months of uncertainty, fans can finally relax, the World Cup will be fully accessible in India,” Shaji Prabhakaran, executive committee member at Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and former secretary general of AIFF, said in a social media post on Saturday. “The wait is finally over. Negotiations are complete, and the official announcement for the FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcasting partner in India is expected next week.”
When FIFA reached out to potential partners in India last year, they were told that the rights would cost $100 million. A few months ago, that price was brought down to $65 million with companies asked to “match the fee from four years ago.” Still, there were no takers, prompting the governing body to now seek between $30-35 million for the rights.
Besides India, Thailand is another big market in Asia that remains without a broadcaster.
Companies in India are hesitant to invest big money on the broadcast rights since only 13 of the 104 matches kick off at prime time for television audiences in India. The others will start between 12 midnight and 9.30am due to the time difference between India and the three hosts in North America: United States, Mexico and Canada.