Sports
Prasar Bharati enters race for FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcast rights
With JioStar and Sony sitting on their hands, India’s public broadcaster may be the only bidder left standing for the world’s biggest football tournament
NEW DELHI: For a global sporting event of this scale, the silence from India’s private broadcasters has been deafening. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup months away, no Indian broadcaster has secured rights to the tournament and the ones with the deepest pockets are in no hurry to change that.
FIFA, accustomed to competitive bidding for its marquee property, finds itself in the unfamiliar position of chasing buyers in India. It had initially set an eye-watering asking price for a bundled package covering the 2026 and 2030 tournaments. When that failed to move the market, the price was cut significantly. Even then, JioStar and Sony, the two broadcasters who have historically written big cheques for big events, have not bitten.
The reasons are not hard to find. Cricket still commands India’s advertising rupees with a grip that football cannot match. Worse, the 2026 edition is hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico, which means most matches will kick off late at night or in the early hours for Indian viewers, precisely the slots that make advertisers nervous and audiences thin.
Into this vacuum steps Prasar Bharati. The public broadcaster operates on a different calculus entirely: accessibility over profit, reach over returns. If it secures the rights, Indian football fans could watch the tournament on free-to-air television without paying a paisa. For FIFA, it would mean a deal. For Doordarshan, it would mean relevance.
The irony is rich. A tournament that private broadcasters once jostled to air may end up on the same government-owned channel that has been carrying state funerals and budget speeches for decades. FIFA wanted a bidding war; it got a waiting room. If Prasar Bharati ends up as the last man standing, both sides will have to pretend that was the plan all along.
