Is Mediacorp’s 2026 World Cup deal a ‘national service’ or commercial strategy?
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Argentina supporters at the public screening of the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France at the OCBC Square.
PHOTO: ST FILE
- Mediacorp secured rights for the 2026 World Cup, expanding free-to-air matches from 9 to 28, a major shift from previous shared broadcasts.
- Analysts suggest Mediacorp's solo bid aims to drive mewatch subscriptions and serves as "national service", despite financial experts expecting difficulties in recouping costs.
- Increased free matches may reduce paid package appeal, but cross-carriage rules mean other telcos can still broadcast Mediacorp’s World Cup coverage.
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SINGAPORE – News that national broadcaster Mediacorp has secured rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Mediacorp’s sole acquisition this time is a shift in World Cup broadcasting trends here, with the previous tournaments in 2022 and 2018 in Qatar and Russia, respectively, shared under a three-way partnership between Mediacorp and local telcos StarHub and Singtel.
Before that, the telcos had shared the costs or had won exclusive bids.
While the broadcaster declined to reveal how much it paid or how the deal is being funded, experts told The Straits Times the move could signal a strategy to drive subscriptions to its platforms, even if recouping the full cost of the rights could prove challenging.
The World Cup bid could also be viewed as a form of “national service” aimed at ensuring broad public access to the world’s biggest football tournament, added the sport and business experts.
In October 2025, it was reported that about $380 million in public funding had been allocated to Mediacorp in each of the past five financial years to help the national broadcaster reach local audiences.
On Feb 5, Mediacorp announced that it had secured media rights to the June 11 to July 19 event and other FIFA tournaments from 2026 to 2028. Under the agreement, it will screen all 104 matches and official ceremonies of the 2026 World Cup, with free-to-air games shown on mewatch and Channel 5 expanding from nine in 2022 to 28 in 2026.
The 2026 World Cup will see a record 48 teams competing across three countries – Canada, Mexico and the United States – with the total number of games increasing from 64 for the 32-team edition in Qatar to 104 this time.
Mediacorp faces challenge to recoup fee
“The announcement caught me by surprise,” said Mr James Walton, sports business group leader of Deloitte Asia Pacific and South-east Asia.
Noting the trend of other countries also showing more free-to-air matches in 2026, he added that he was unsure if this is a “deliberate thing” that FIFA started.
When asked by ST how much it had paid for the 2026 rights, where the funding was from and if it had bid for the rights alone, a Mediacorp spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on your queries as these details are commercially confidential. We are currently in discussions with partners on the carriage of Mediacorp’s coverage of the World Cup 2026, and will share more details in due course.”
The estimated rights fee for the 2022 tournament was reportedly more than $25 million, a slight increase from the amount paid in 2018. An industry insider, who declined to be named, said: “No one seems to have an estimation of what was paid by Mediacorp. But my guess is that it would have been more than the last edition because there are more matches this time.”
According to reports, Australia’s SBS paid A$30 million (S$26.8 million) to secure the 2026 rights, while Spanish broadcaster RTVE outbid its rivals with its €55 million (S$82.4 million) offer.
While Mr Walton did not know how much Mediacorp shelled out for the rights, he does not expect them to recoup the fee.
He said: “Honestly, I have absolutely no idea how much Mediacorp would have paid for this, but the only way they can really recoup their money on this at the end of the day is advertising and activation. But what is the audience for advertising at those times of the night when matches will be played?”
Matches at the 2026 World Cup will be played between midnight and noon (Singapore time).
The opening match between Mexico and South Africa will kick off at 3am on June 12, with the semi-finals and final also at 3am on July 15, 16 and 20, respectively (all Singapore time).
A play for viewers, ‘national service’
Dr Seshan Ramaswami, associate professor of marketing education at the Singapore Management University, noted that as the solo terrestrial broadcaster, Mediacorp is under pressure to hold on to its audience.
He said: “Through its mewatch platform, it has already joined the streaming game, and a premier event like the World Cup can serve as a huge factor in drawing in a new audience and new app users.
“It’s almost like a loss leader in the grocery industry – where some products are priced very low to get customers into their store. And once the viewer becomes a mewatch subscriber during this World Cup period, he or she could be upsold, cross-sold on other, future Mediacorp products.
“Getting customers to watch on their smart TV and portable devices also means being able to gather a lot more data at the individual level – and that could be a bonanza for future sales efforts for all their other offerings.”
Mr Walton speculated that Mediacorp could have gone solo with the bid and provided 28 free matches as a form of “national service”.
He said: “We have seen in the past with Mediacorp that they are often providing a national service. We saw it with the Olympics, where they came in at the last moment to make sure that the Olympics was being broadcast.
“I wouldn’t rule out the fact that this is like a public service thing.”
In 2016, Mediacorp struck a deal with broadcast rights holder Dentsu to beam the 2016 Olympic Games live, just one day before the opening ceremony. The two sides had earlier failed to reach a deal because of Dentsu’s high asking price.
Veteran economist Song Seng Wun, who is an economic adviser at Singapore-based fintech platform SDAX, added: “Football is a national sport, leading to many hours of conversations or arguments in neighbourhood kopitiam, hawker centres to ‘atas’ bars and restaurants. Watching football games together as a nation can be seen as contributing to a tiny and multiracial island’s social cohesion, cultural development and national identity.”
In Indonesia, the World Cup will be broadcast by TVRI, a government-owned television station, after it secured rights to provide free-to-air coverage for all 104 matches. According to Indonesian media, TVRI’s purchase of the tournament broadcast rights was backed by the government.
TVRI president and director Iman Brotoseno described the process as a significant undertaking, adding: “The 2026 World Cup on TVRI is presented for all Indonesian people, with inclusive access. This is in line with the direction of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, who has instructed TVRI to provide entertainment for all Indonesians during the excitement of the World Cup.”
Radio Television Malaysia, under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, had shown the 2018 and 2022 editions for free, although details for the 2026 edition have not been announced.
Will fans pay for the World Cup?
Responding to queries, StarHub and Singtel said that they are in discussions with Mediacorp on broadcast arrangements for the tournament. Singapore’s cross-carriage rule means that pay-television operators must share exclusive content with competing platforms, so consumers are not forced to switch providers to watch specific offerings.
Mediacorp has said that more details on cross-carriage partners, subscription plans and prices will be announced later.
But Dr Ramaswami is sceptical about whether fans will fork out for paid World Cup packages.
He said: “When Mediacorp has already announced that 28 matches would be aired for free, this further reduces the attractiveness of alternative packages for the viewer, and hence for StarHub and Singtel too.
“Given the late night/early morning timings of the event, having over a fourth of the matches, and likely the biggest ones, free to air, might mean that the needs of a vast majority of fans would already be met by the free service.”
This may lead to a price hike for packages, he added, as “only the very keen fans would be interested in access to the entire tournament, and they would be willing to pay for that privilege”.
In 2022, consumers paid $98 with an early-bird promotion, and $118 thereafter – a slight increase from the $94 (early-bird price) and $112 consumers paid in 2018.
Mr Walton fully expects the telcos to reach an agreement to carry the World Cup matches on their platforms.
He said: “The one thing that can differentiate (your platform) is content. So, I would be amazed if Singtel and StarHub don’t go for this.”
