With just one month to kickoff, large portions of football-mad Asia, including China, India, and Thailand, have not yet confirmed the broadcast rights for the biggest-ever World Cup.
Hundreds of millions of fans are worried about whether they can watch from their couches because of the unfriendly match schedules in the area.
The United States, Canada, and Mexico are co-hosting football’s main event, which starts on June 11 when Mexico takes on South Africa.
Both the opening game and the final will begin at 3:00 am for supporters in Beijing and Shanghai.
While some games will be better timed in Asia, that is 12:30 am in New Delhi.
The chairman of the advertising firm Rediffusion, Sandeep Goyal, told AFP that he was “privy to some discussions” between Indian broadcasters and FIFA, the organization that oversees football.
“Match timings are the first issue,” Goyal stated.
“The larger, better games take place at 12:30 or 3:30 in the morning. Some at 6:30 a.m. Match viewership in India is probably going to be modest, with the exception of ardent soccer fans.
“As a result, the channels’ monetization opportunities drastically decline.”
According to Goyal, the biggest media company in India, JioStar, made a $20 million bid for the rights. He said that Sony had not made an offer.
According to Indian media, FIFA initially demanded $100 million for the rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.
Goyal continued, “The final deal is likely to close at much lower than what FIFA is looking for.”
PM becomes interested
Similar to India, China has not yet made an announcement on a tournament with 48 teams and 104 games.
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