The M6 media group is on the verge of securing French broadcast rights to soccer's 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup (WWC), it has been reported.
M6, which is controlled by the RTL Group, already holds a package of non-exclusive rights to the 2026 and 2030 men's FIFA World Cups, through a deal publicly announced in March 2024.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Now, multiple French media sources have reported that M6 is set to add action from the 2027 WWC – taking place in Brazil – to those men's events.
Currently, M6 shares broadcast rights to the French women's national team with the public-service France Televisions, with that deal (which does not cover major international tournaments) running until mid-2027. Those two broadcasters also shared rights between them to the 2023 WWC, held across Australia and New Zealand.
Those agreements were only announced at the eleventh hour, against a backdrop of European broadcasters initially being reluctant to offer the fees that governing body FIFA believed the WWC should be commanding.
M6 will now be able to work out whether it can cover all available games from the tournament in two years' time itself, or whether to instead sub-license several matches out to another French broadcaster.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataAt the 2023 WWC, France made it to the quarter-final stage before being knocked out on penalty kicks by hosts Australia.
France were also knocked out at that stage of the 2019 WWC, which they hosted, by the US (the eventual winners).
In terms of recent broadcast activity around the 2027 tournament, earlier this month, New World TV, the Togo-based satellite television network operating across sub-Saharan Africa, was announced as a rights-holder in a large number of markets in that region.
That tie-up also covers the 2026 men's World Cup, to be held across Mexico, the US, and Canada.
A tender for the 2027 tournament has also gone live in Canada in June, which can also potentially cover the 2031 tournament (which has not yet had a host nation allocated).
