The development comes at a time when the Indian sports broadcasting market has seen heightened churn and speculation over premium football rights, particularly for global marquee events.
Also Read: FIFA World Cup 2026 revenues set to top $6 billion even as India rights deal remains pending
The announcement comes after months of uncertainty over the India rights, with no broadcaster officially onboard despite the tournament being a few months away. The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
The uncertainty around the broadcast rights had also reached the courts earlier this month, when the Delhi High Court issued notices to the Centre and Prasar Bharati on a petition seeking directions to ensure the tournament remained accessible to viewers in India through public broadcasting platforms such as Doordarshan and DD Sports.
The petition argued that the FIFA World Cup had already been notified as a sporting event of national importance under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007.
The 2026 edition will be the first FIFA World Cup to feature 48 teams and 104 matches. The previous edition in Qatar in 2022, won by the Argentina national football team led by Lionel Messi, was streamed in India on JioCinema and broadcast on Sports18.Also Read: Is FIFA World Cup 2026 finally coming to Indian screens? Big update expected next week
The company disclosed the talks while announcing the launch of ‘Unite8 Sports’, a new portfolio of dedicated sports channels aimed at expanding its presence in the sports broadcasting ecosystem. As part of the push, Zee will launch four channels — Unite8 Sports 1 and Unite8 Sports 1 HD in Hindi, along with Unite8 Sports 2 and Unite8 Sports 2 HD in English — featuring football, kabaddi, cricket, badminton, wrestling, boxing and combat sports, among others.
“With an aim to build a competitive sports content offering, the Company is also in talks with Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to broadcast and stream the FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in India,” the company said in the statement.
