Fifa has awarded the exclusive US media rights to all Fifa World Cup events from 2015 to 2022 to Fox and NBC Universal’s Telemundo Media in deals reportedly worth more than a billion dollars.

Under the terms of the deals, Fox acquires the rights across all platforms, including radio rights, while Telemundo has won the Spanish-language rights, excluding radio rights, which have gone to Fútbol de Primera Radio.

According to reports, Fox is paying somewhere in the region of US$425 million for its package, while Telemundo is paying around US$600 million. A statement on Fifa’s website says the deals cover the World Cups in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups and other Fifa events.

“We are truly honoured for Fifa to award the Fox Sports Media Group these extremely important rights,” said Fox Sports chairman David Hill in a statement. “The Fifa World Cup and Women’s World Cup are two of the world’s biggest competitions. It is our privilege to be entrusted with these rights in the United States from 2015 through 2022.”

The new deals mark a significant increase on the fee paid by Fifa’s previous two US television partners, ESPN and Univision. Six years ago, the two networks paid US$100 million and US$325 million respectively for rights to the 2010 and 2014 editions of soccer’s premier event. Both broadcasters admitted to being outbid this time round.

In a statement, ESPN said: “We made a disciplined bid that would have been both valuable to Fifa and profitable for our company, while continuing to grow our unprecedented coverage of the World Cup and Women’s World Cup events. We were aggressive while remaining prudent from a business perspective.”

The announcement of the awarding of the rights comes as Fifa president Sepp Blatter unveiled a number of reforms to tackle corruption in soccer and clean up the sport’s and the body’s image. Having seen his organisation rocked by a bribery scandal in June, Blatter said the reforms, which include the creation of a ‘good governance committee’ consisting of club and league representatives, players, and referees, will help to make Fifa more transparent.

“We are moving forward with a Fifa, thanks to the good governance committee, which is a bit of a watchdog and will allow us in 2013, maybe even before, to present an image slightly better than the one we have currently,” said Blatter.

Source: sportspromedia.com

Related Articles

1. Al Jazeera Sport buys broadcast rights to 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups™ FIFA is pleased to announce the extension of its broadcast rights agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and the...
2. Sky Italia awarded 2012-2015 Champions League rights Sky Italia has picked up four of the five available media rights packages for the Uefa Champions League for the Italian market between 2012 and...
3. Kia and Hyundai extend FIFA partnership for 2018 & 2022 FIFA World Cup Kia, in conjunction with Hyundai Motor, to sponsor all FIFA competitions until 2022 as a FIFA Partner...
4. Hyundai inks deal to be FIFA sponsor through 2022 Hyundai has inked a deal with FIFA to an unprecedented long-term commitment for sponsoring the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022 as the official...
5. Fifa and Uefa contests free-to-air World Cup TV broadcasts in UK Football bodies Fifa and Uefa have appealed against a European ruling that the World Cup and Euro Championships must be on free-to-air TV in the...