While Fox has the English rights to the 2022 FIFA World Cup and will be airing all 64 matches across their networks, cord cutters will be out of luck since Fox doesn’t have a subscription-based direct to consumer offering.
However, NBC does, and since Telemundo has the Spanish rights in the US, the company is capitalizing on the opportunity.
On Tuesday, the company announced that Peacock would be streaming Telemundo’s Spanish language coverage of the entire tournament.
Peacock today announced comprehensive coverage plans for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ with every match streaming LIVE on Peacock in Spanish, offering live and exclusive Spanish-language coverage, a dedicated World Cup Hub and the Copa Mundial 24/7 Virtual Channel in Spanish produced by Tplus, Telemundo’s digital content brand.
Peacock will be the only direct-to-consumer streaming service in the United States to simulstream live coverage of all 64 matches, which are produced by Telemundo Deportes, including the hour-long pre- and post-match onsite coverage from Qatar. The first 12 matches of the FIFA World Cup 2022™ will be available to Peacock subscribers on the free tier, while the remaining 52 games (beginning on Nov. 24) will be available to Peacock Premium subscribers.
The Fox-owned Tubi will offer English language coverage of the tournament, but matches will not be available live, and only can be watched on-demand after they conclude.
This is a great idea by NBC to cater to cord-cutters and those used to watching the Premier League on Peacock. We’ll see if it ends up driving subscriptions or higher streaming viewership, but it does seem like a no-brainer, given that the Spanish rights are already in-house.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.