JTBC and KBS Agree to Jointly Broadcast 2026 North and Central America World Cup

Attention on Possible Additional Negotiations with MBC and SBS

Yonhap News Agency

JTBC and KBS have reached an agreement to jointly broadcast the 2026 North and Central America World Cup, which will open in June 2026.

On April 20, JTBC announced that after negotiating with the three terrestrial broadcasters regarding the resale of World Cup broadcasting rights, it had reached a final agreement with KBS. The two companies are reported to have signed a broadcasting rights contract worth approximately 14 billion won.

Meanwhile, MBC and SBS are said to be reviewing whether to participate under the same proposed conditions.

KBS explained the negotiation, stating, "Although we expect to incur a significant deficit, we accepted JTBC's final proposal considering our responsibility as a public broadcaster," and added, "It was a decision to realize the value of the license fee."

The two companies plan to continue technical discussions ahead of the tournament’s opening, while also forming a broadcast team that will include broadcaster Jeon Hyunmoo and commentator Lee Youngpyo.

Previously, after acquiring broadcasting rights for the Summer and Winter Olympics from 2026 to 2032 and the World Cup from 2025 to 2030, JTBC attempted to resell these rights to terrestrial broadcasters. However, the negotiations fell through, and JTBC broadcast the Milan Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics exclusively in February.

When controversy arose over restricted viewing rights during this process, JTBC resumed negotiations to resell the World Cup broadcasting rights. With the agreement with KBS, it will now be possible to watch the broadcasts simultaneously on both terrestrial broadcasters and general programming channels.

JTBC stated, "We have delivered the same final proposal to the other terrestrial broadcasters as well," and added, "We plan to continue negotiations with MBC and SBS."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.