Indian media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises has launched a new four-channel linear sports broadcast offering called Unite8 Sports, which could pre-empt its impending FIFA World Cup 2026 rights agreement.
Zee is reportedly soon to be announced as the rights holder for the World Cup in India, with FIFA set to agree a cut-price deal in order to avoid a blackout in the major media market of over 1 billion people.
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The Unite8 channels will be predicated on two offerings, ‘Unite8 Sports 1’ with English-language coverage and 'Unite8 Sports 2’ with coverage in Hindi. Both offerings have a standard and high definition channel, bringing the total to four channels.
This represents a return to the sports industry from Zee Entertainment, which left the sector following the fallout from its failed ICC cricket sublicensing agreement with Star in 2024.
In the past, Zee has broadcast cricket’s ILT20 competition from the UAE, and with the new Unite8 Sports brand, the company says it will air coverage of cricket once again, as well as soccer, kabaddi, badminton, and combat sports such as wrestling and boxing.
In terms of soccer, Zee is reportedly in the driver's seat for the FIFA World Cup rights, with other major players unwilling to meet FIFA’s demands.
Indeed, the Indian subcontinent is the last major territory where a deal has not yet been agreed, and there are now less than three weeks to go before the World Cup gets underway.
FIFA had originally been looking to generate $100 million from the market (for rights to both the 2026 and 2030 tournaments), but reportedly will now have to make do with less than $35 million in total.
Viacom18 (now part of JioStar) held rights in 2022, reportedly paying just over $60 million for that edition alone – with that tournament held in Qatar, matches were on at a far more friendly time for Indian audiences.
JioStar is reportedly not currently budging from its valuation of between $20 million and $25 million, meaning FIFA may have to move even further away from its original predicted figure.
