Three TV giants are vying for World Cup broadcast - only two things are clear

Things started off quite quickly. No sooner had Telekom proudly announced the extensive purchase of media rights for four FIFA World Cups than a meeting with representatives from ARD and ZDF took place at the presentation venue. The public broadcasters are in a hurry for good reason. They are particularly interested in the men's World Cup, which will be played next year, as part of the Telekom TV package.

According to information from the German Press Agency, there hasn't been a further meeting between the participants since that quick gathering in Berlin just four weeks ago. Time is running out, though. In less than a year , all 48 World Cup teams have already played at least one group match. And a tournament with 16 venues in three North American countries requires meticulous preparation.

ARD and ZDF were forced to miss the important World Broadcasters Meeting for World Cup broadcasters from around the world. The German company Thinxpool was represented in Dallas. The TV service provider based in Holzkirchen, Bavaria, has been producing the sports programming for Telekom's pay-TV service MagentaTV for many years. All 104 matches of the World Cup tournament will be broadcast on the service next year.

However, there will also be broadcasts without additional payment. This is certain to please football fans. According to FIFA , "a large number of matches will be sublicensed to a free-to-air television broadcaster with nationwide reach."

How much a large number is, however, remains unclear. Neither the world football governing body nor Telekom wanted to comment on the matter. Football fans would certainly like to know whether there will be more World Cup matches next summer than those promised in the State Media Treaty. ARD and ZDF have not commented on the current status.

Section 13 of the legislation stipulates, among other things, which matches during a World Cup must be broadcast on a free-to-air and generally accessible television channel. These are:

• All games with German participation
• The opening game
• The semi-finals
• The final

ARD and ZDF had expressed their interest in the 2026 World Cup very early on, but their ideas were not considered by FIFA. The second attempt is now via sublicenses, which is fundamentally in line with Telekom's plans. "Of course, we are a commercial enterprise and will also seek refinancing," said Wolfgang Metze, Managing Director of Private Customers.

The telecommunications company has now spoken with more than just the two public broadcasters. Deutsche Telekom could also achieve refinancing by partially reselling the assets to private broadcasters. Due to their size, RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 are potential candidates.

"We are looking at all interesting rights," says the RTL Group. The company was already involved in the 2024 European Championship, taking over production for Telekom in its Cologne studios, and broadcast twelve matches itself on its main channel.

ProSiebenSat.1's competitors have recently been very active in the rights market, surprisingly purchasing the free TV package for the Handball World Championships. And they are "interested in anything with an eagle on its chest," as sports director Gernot Bauer recently put it.

ARD and ZDF have an advantage over their competitors in negotiations with Telekom. They have already acquired media rights for the 2028 European Championship and could offer a barter deal in addition to transfers worth millions.

The model would be the extensive and complicated contract after Telekom first secured the 2024 European Championship and then sold sublicenses to the public broadcasters - these were offset, among other things, against rights for two World Cup tournaments.

The 2026 Men's World Cup is currently a priority for public broadcasters, but other interesting rights are also on the market. FIFA is currently offering 30 matches from the 2027 Women's World Cup for "free-to-air television channels with nationwide broadcasting."

The women's soccer competition could also be of interest to RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 following their recent ratings successes. Telekom has only acquired the pay-TV package for the Women's World Cup in its major TV coup, which also includes two U20 tournaments.