How SBS fended off Nine and Optus to secure the Fifa World Cup rights
Almost every commercial television or streaming video service in Australia has a football (soccer) offering. But the biggest event will remain on the public broadcaster.
Almost every commercial television or streaming video service in Australia has a football (soccer) offering core to its consumer proposition. And yet somehow, the multicultural public broadcaster SBS has managed to hang on to the biggest football property on the planet.
SBS announced yesterday it had secured exclusive rights to the 2026 Fifa World Cup tournament to be held in North America, renewing its longstanding coverage of the event. In doing so it beat out Nine Entertainment Co, which has invested heavily in football for its streaming service Stan, and telecommunications giant Optus, which won the rights back in 2018 and aired the hugely popular Women's World Cup this year together with Seven West Media.
As the nation’s love of the game hit fever pitch during the Women’s World Cup in August, Fifa representatives begun sounding out interest among network executives to lock in an Australian broadcast host for the men’s tournament when it arrives in North America.
When push came to shove, both Seven and Network Ten owner Paramount Plus passed on the opportunity to lob formal bids, according to two sources familiar with the talks not authorised to speak publicly, leaving Optus Sport, Nine and SBS to duke it out.
