In the end of the 'negotiation difficulties' World Cup, JTBC's exclusive broadcast will be revealed for the first time for the 'tough 186.1 billion' broadcasting fee

*This content was translated by AI.

Following the 2026 Milan/Cortina D'Ampezzo (Italy) Winter Olympics, the 2026 FIFA 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup is likely to be broadcast exclusively on JTBC. Amid growing interest in "universal viewing rights" after the Winter Olympics, negotiations with JTBC on the three terrestrial broadcasters are reportedly struggling.

JTBC issued a statement on the 23rd and said, "JTBC has been sincerely negotiating with the three terrestrial broadcasters to eliminate concerns (about universal viewing rights), and recently made a final proposal to secure universal viewing rights at the risk of a large deficit," but added, "JTBC and the three terrestrial broadcasters have been sincerely negotiating with the Korea Communications Commission, but negotiations have stopped since the final proposal of JTBC."

JTBC said, "The final proposal of JTBC is to divide the remaining broadcasting rights excluding digital resale from the total broadcasting rights fee into half by the central group to which JTBC belongs and the three terrestrial broadcasters. If this happens, JTBC will take charge of 50% of the broadcasting rights and about 16.7% of each terrestrial broadcaster."

"The Korea Pool of the three terrestrial broadcasters has been paying the broadcast rights for international games at the same rate. However, JTBC's final plan is for JTBC's central group to pay half of the broadcasting rights excluding digital resale, and each terrestrial broadcaster to share the rest, he said. "It is the last plan that has been put forward even at the risk of a big deficit in consideration of concerns about universal viewing rights."

JTBC also disclosed in its statement that it has secured a whopping $125 million (about 186.1 billion won) in 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup broadcasting rights. This is the first time JTBC has disclosed specific World Cup broadcasting rights fees.

JTBC said, "We secured broadcast rights for the 2026 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup for $125 million. The broadcasting rights for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the previous tournament, were $103 million (about 153.4 billion won). The broadcasting rights paid by JTBC reflect the increase in each competition and the annual average inflation rate, he explained. "Some claims that JTBC is transferring the burden by buying broadcasting rights at a high price through a single bid are not true."

"Even during the period when the terrestrial broadcaster was in charge of broadcasting, FIFA broadcasting rights fees steadily increased. According to the related paper, even after 2000, it recorded $25 million (about 37.3 billion won) in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, $65 million (about 96.8 billion won) in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, $75 million (about 111.7 billion won) in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, $95 million (about 141.5 billion won) in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and $103 million in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he added.

JTBC also claimed that it has proposed a compromise several times for joint broadcasting with terrestrial broadcasters, but has still not reached an agreement. In particular, according to the final proposal, the amount that the three terrestrial broadcasters have to pay is much lower than at the Qatar Games four years ago.

JTBC said, "Since broadcasting the Winter Olympics on JTBC and Naver, we have continued negotiations with three terrestrial broadcasters as we feel the need to guarantee wider viewing rights at the World Cup tournament. However, so far, we have not yet reached an agreement, he said. "At first, we proposed a structure in which four operators share 25% of broadcasting rights at the same rate excluding digital broadcasting rights, and later when the three terrestrial broadcasters expressed reluctance, JTBC proposed a 4:3:3 structure that bears more."

"Nevertheless, when the agreement was not reached, JTBC finally proposed a proposal to expand its own burden and take responsibility for half of the total broadcasting rights except for digital broadcasting rights, and share the remaining 50% with the three terrestrial broadcasters," he said. "If this happens, the burden of each terrestrial broadcaster will fall to 16.7% of the broadcasting rights." In terms of the amount, it is much lower than the amount paid by each company during the Qatar World Cup four years ago. Nevertheless, the agreement was not reached because the difference in position was not narrowed, and negotiations were suspended.

JTBC said, "Since large-scale overseas sports events such as the World Cup require a considerable amount of time to prepare for broadcasting, quick decision-making is needed due to the schedule. The application for the use of the local IBC (International Broadcasting Center) and stadium relay seats has already passed the official deadline, but we are still in talks with FIFA on related matters, he said. "In addition to the IBC subscription method, we are considering various alternatives to enable stable broadcasting of terrestrial broadcasters, but this also needs to be confirmed by the end of March."

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*This content was translated by AI.