List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters

The FIFA World Cup was first broadcast on television in 1954 and is now the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games. 715.2 million individuals watched the final match of the 2006 tournament (representing 11 percent of the entire population of the planet). The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers.

Over 100 nations have provided wall-to-wall coverage since the communications satellite launchings allowed for worldwide coverage beginning in 1966. European coverage of the World Cup has been extensive since 1954 (though with the World Cup held in Chile in 1962, much of the Euro coverage that year was tape-delayed).

Broadcast of the qualification for the World Cup Finals for England is currently held by ITV (terrestrial, home and away matches) with Sky holding rights for home and away matches for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These were previously held by the BBC but BBC have highlights of each home nation in their respective nation so BBC Scotland show Scotland highlights, BBC Wales show Wales highlights and BBC Northern Ireland show NI highlights.

However, coverage of the World Cup Finals is on a government mandated 'protected' list meaning it must be shown on free-to-air terrestrial television (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five) as opposed to satellite or cable television. Although only one broadcaster is required, the two biggest terrestrial operators, the BBC and ITV, have always made a joint bid for coverage with broadcast of the Home Nations matches (particularly England) alternating between the broadcasters up to the later stages of the tournament. This is believed to prevent an extremely expensive bidding war for coverage between the two networks, with the current agreement running until the 2014 tournament.

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