The live broadcast of the upcoming World Cup in India has been in suspense for the past few months. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, popularly known as Zee TV in India, has acquired the rights to broadcast the live broadcast of the World Cup. An agreement has been signed between Zee TV and FIFA for the next 8 years. As a result, Zee TV will broadcast a total of 39 major international tournaments, including the World Cup, live for the people of India during this period. This includes the upcoming World Cup, the 2030 edition, the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the FIFA U-17 and U-20 (men’s and women’s) World Cups. In addition, Zee TV has also signed an agreement to broadcast FIFA documentaries made on the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and previous tournaments.
It is worth noting that before acquiring the FIFA broadcasting rights, Zee TV launched four sports channels (Unit8 Sports-1, Unit8 Sports-1 HD, Unit8 Sports-2, Unit8 Sports-2 HD). Apart from these channels, the World Cup will also be broadcast live on the Zee Five application.
It is worth noting that FIFA had initially set a price of $100 million (Rs. 930.9 crore) to sell the World Cup broadcasting rights in India. But Indian broadcasting companies did not submit bids. Now FIFA has limited it to $35 million (Rs. 325.82 crore) after a 65% discount. However, no one agreed to buy the broadcasting rights. Geostar submitted a bid of $25 million (Rs. 232.7 crore) for the World Cup broadcasting rights, which was $10 million less than FIFA’s discounted price.
