FIFA signed 2010 WC deals directly with broadcasters

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FIFA no longer rely on an agency to perform the role of TV rights distribution in the big five European markets. FIFA has decided to agree direct deals with broadcasters in England (ITV and BBC), Germany (ARD/ZDF and Premiere), France (TF1), Spain (TVE), and Italy (RAI and Sky), as part of a Europe-wide package for the 2010 World Cup worth around €1bn.

For the rest of Europe, FIFA will work in partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to sell the rights to broadcasters in individual countries. The EBU will replace Infront Sports & Media AG, formerly part of the empire of German media mogul Leo Kirch before its collapse, who are handling the global broadcasting rights sales for next 2006 World Cup in Germany.  The procedure for the award of non-European television rights for 2010 is set to begin this autumn. Although FIFA has agreed a deal with Japanese TV as part of the Asian market, it has yet to conclude them for North or South America, the rest of Asia and Africa.

Markus Siegler, FIFA's director of communications, said: "The idea of the deal was to improve the reach globally by going to the public broadcast channels but this doesn't mean that Pay-TV is excluded in any country."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the deal was worth roughly twice as much as for the European TV rights for the 2006 competition in Germany. He added that the deal would help ensure that Europe's public would be able to view the vast majority of matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa live on public broadcast TV.