New Delhi: Ending months of agony for Indian football fans, Zee has announced that it has sealed a deal with FIFA to telecast the World Cup that gets underway this month.That India would have to miss watching the World Cup being played across three countries in the Americas had seemed a real possibility, with JioStar (now merged with Disney and Hotstar) not willing to pay up what FIFA had put forth as broadcast fees. JioStar had telecast the last World Cup. It was reported that Jio was worried about revenues as telecast timings, suitable for the Americas, are not favourable to India. Mint had reported how hopes that public broadcaster Doordarshan could broadcast World Cup 2026, had been dashed as it too pulled out of securing “commercial rights”, telling the Delhi high court that it was not their “responsibility” to do so.FIFA had reportedly wanted $100 million for broadcast rights for 2026 and 2030 tournaments, as per Reuters. When seized with little interest, also given JioStar’s clout as a near-monopoly, it reportedly brought down the amount to approximately $60 million. However, JioStar had said it would only agree to $20 million. Another platform, though smaller than JioStar, Sony had withdrawn from the process at that time. The terms of the current deal remain under wraps.Zee shares rose 7% in the wake of this announcement.Starting with the FIFA World Cup 2026 opener on June 11, matches would be broadcast across four newly launched linear sports channels – Unite8 Sports 1 and Unite8 Sports 1 HD in Hindi, and Unite8 Sports 2 and Unite8 Sports 2 HD in English. Zee’s streaming platform ZEE5 too would carry the matches. “We are excited to bring one of the world’s biggest sporting spectacles to Indian audiences,” Punit Goenka, CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, is reported to have said. “Football cuts across regions and demographics, and the investments in garnering the media rights and launching dedicated sports channels reflect our clear belief in its long-term potential.”The deal includes 39 FIFA soccer events all the way till 2034. The deal also includes documentary series. As per Variety magazine, “events covered include the FIFA Men’s U-17 World Cup and FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup editions from 2026 through 2034, FIFA U-20 Men’s and Women’s World Cup cycles, the FIFA Futsal Men’s and Women’s World Cups, and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup through 2030.”Being played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with 48 countries, this is the largest world cup ever, given the number of countries that have qualified. Iran is also among the teams to have qualified though Donald Trump’s hostility towards the team and refusal to provide safety has led to their matches being hosted by Mexico. Trump reportedly also “offered” Italian Premier, Georgia Meloni to get Italy to play in place of Iran. Italy in a shock upset has not qualified this year. Meloni refused the dubious offer. It has been noted that the world’s two most populous countries, India and China have failed to qualify.