FIFA faces World Cup broadcast crisis in India and China

Millions
of soccer fans in the world's two most populous nations may not be able to
watch the World Cup that starts next month, due to a deadlock over broadcast
rights in India and no official decision in China.
In India,
a Reliance-Disney joint venture has offered $20 million for 2026 World Cup
broadcast rights, a fraction of FIFA's ask, which was not acceptable to
soccer's global governing body, two sources told Reuters on Monday. Sony 6758.T
held talks but also decided not to make an offer for FIFA rights for India, a
third source with direct knowledge said.
There has
also been no deal announcement for China, which FIFA says accounted for 49.8%
of all hours of viewing on digital and social platforms globally during the
2022 World Cup.
FIFA did
not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reliance-Disney, a joint venture
led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance RELI.NS, did not respond to
requests for comment, and neither did Sony.
The lack
of a confirmed broadcast agreement with India or China is unusual at this
stage.
In past
World Cups, including 2018 and 2022, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV secured the
rights well in advance and began airing promotional content and sponsor-driven
advertisements weeks before the tournament.
CCTV,
which has extensive reach across television and digital platforms, did not
immediately return a request for comment.
China
accounted for 17.7% and India 2.9% of the global linear TV reach of the 2022
tournament. The two countries together accounted for 22.6% of total global
digital streaming reach for that World Cup.
The 2026
tournament kicks off on June 11, leaving barely five weeks for a deal to be
finalised, broadcast infrastructure to be set up and advertising inventory to
be sold.
HUGE
SOCCER FOLLOWING IN INDIA, CHINA
For India,
FIFA initially sought $100 million for broadcast rights for the 2026 and 2030
World Cups, the sources said, declining to be named because the talks are
private.
When the
World Cup last aired in India in 2022, Reliance's then-standalone media arm
secured the rights for about $60 million, which was announced around 14 months
before the event in Qatar. The tournament drew over 110 million digital viewers
across its platforms.
Reliance
and Disney DIS.N have since formed a joint venture to emerge as a dominant
force in India's media and streaming landscape, and the $20 million FIFA offer
underscores the negotiating power the Indian group commands.
FIFA had
significantly lowered its ask from the $100 million earlier, but has not been
keen on the $20 million figure Reliance offered, one source said.
Reliance-Disney,
which has spent billions on cricket broadcast rights, believes the World Cup
will have lower viewership in India as the tournament is being held in the
United States, Canada and Mexico, and most matches will air past midnight in
India, the sources said.
China has
around 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but has failed to
build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick
players from a very small pool of pre-screened candidates.
The second
source added that football does not command the commercial premium in India
like its most popular sport cricket, and an advertising slowdown linked to the
Iranian war has further eroded revenue expectations.
"Football
is a niche segment in India," said the source.
Sony,
which has TV channels and a streaming app in India, also decided not to
purchase broadcast rights from FIFA as it did not make economic sense for the
group, said the third industry source.
"Not
much time is left but I won't call it a stalemate. It's more like we are at the
end of a chess game with a couple of moves left," said Rohit Potphode,
managing partner for sports at advertising agency Dentsu India.
















