By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THAILAND is currently among four out of a total of 11 Asean countries where the broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 have not yet been bought whilst the Thais may be more or less anticipating to view the world football tournament live and free as usual anyway.
The FIFA World Cup 2026, scheduled between June 12 and July 20 and jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, is selling its broadcasting rights at undisclosed prices to countries around the globe including Thailand where the Bhumjaithai-led government is yet undecided as to whether to manage for the Thais to view it live via free TV as they did for previous World Cup games whilst the Must Have broadcasting rules have already been waived by the National Broadcasting & Telecommunications Commission, thus negating the government-managed free and live broadcasting of such world tournaments.
The three other Asean states which have not yet purchased the FIFA broadcasting rights are Brunei, Laos and Myanmar whilst seven others have already bought, namely Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, according to a FIFA report.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has earlier confirmed in public that the Thais will definitely view it live and free as during previous World Cup tournaments over the last decades but stopped short of saying how he could possibly manage for that matter though not all the total 104 matches to be played by a total of 48 national teams, specifically those in the first and second rounds of the five and a half week-long tournament, would be broadcast live to Thailand.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister’s Office Minister Supamas Isarabhakdi has earlier said she would consider the FIFA broadcasting rights for Thailand as “unfairly expensive” in comparison to those offered to the relatively highly populated China and India, among others.
She concluded that it would not be “cost-effective” for the cash-strapped Thailand to buy the FIFA broadcasting rights where most of the total 104 matches would be viewed in the wee hours between 3.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m. – the period of time considered to be hardly commercially interesting to prospective private sponsors.
The FIFA broadcasting rights for the World Cup 2026 for Thailand is calculated to cost an estimated 1.7 billion baht, compared to the 1.4 billion baht broadcasting rights provided for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar and mostly paid by the NBTC at the expense of the taxpayer’s money.
CAPTIONS:
Top – The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by three different countries. Photo – Getty Images and published by BBC
Insert – Maple the Moose, Zayu the Jaguar and Clutch the Bald Eagle are the World Cup 2026 mascots. Photo – FIFA and published by BBC
Front Page – The official match ball of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is displayed in Mexico City on April 23. Photo – Solrac Santiago/NurPhoto via Getty Images and published by CNN
Also read:
Govt urged to negotiate price cut for FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcasting rights
Private sector encouraged to sponsor World Cup 2026 in lieu of govt
1.3 billion baht in govt budget okayed to buy World Cup broadcasting rights
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