In the United States, the hunt for television rights extends to the 2022 World Cup. In previous years, ESPN kept the rights.
ESPN has been at the center of some of the most memorable moments in recent World Cup history. In 2014, Mario Gotze’s goal against Argentina in extra time helped Germany win the World Cup. Eight years earlier, ESPN broadcast Zinedine Zidane’s header against Italy in the final. ESPN had had the rights since 1994, when the World Cup first came to the United States.
However, ESPN does not have the TV rights for the 2022 World Cup.
Instead, these belong to the supplier responsible for the vast majority of international tournaments, FOX. It is for the rights of the English language only. The Spanish public passes through Telemundo and associated platforms.
Which provider owns the TV rights for the 2022 World Cup?
In an effort to acquire as many international competition rights as possible, FOX bought the FIFA World Cup rights. in 2011. At that time, FIFA granted the rights to the Men’s World Cup and the Women’s World Cup. Therefore, the first World Cup broadcast in the FOX family of channels was the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada.
Since then, FOX has broadcast the 2018 World Cup from Russia. Now, there are plans to stream the 2022 World Cup from Qatar for American audiences. FOX’s World Cup Rights Agreement includes the 2026 World Cup. However, ESPN is putting its name back in the ring to broadcast the 2030 World Cup.
Spanish language rights
As noted, the Spanish-language television rights of the 2022 World Cup belong to Telemundo. The OTA channel also uses Universe for game streaming. Telemundo also uses NBC Peacock’s paid streaming platform to broadcast all 64 World Cup games.
Like FOX, Telemundo started broadcasting the World Cup in 2018, taking over from Univision and UniMás. The former rights holder also had a tenure of over two decades, as did ESPN.
PHOTO: IMAGO / Laci Perenyi
–
