Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notice on the plea filed by advocate Avdhesh Bairwa and listed the matter for hearing next week. The court, however, observed that the nature of reliefs sought appeared akin to a public interest litigation.
Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar, appearing for the petitioner, submitted before the court that authorities were “already endeavouring” to secure the broadcast rights and that “the Court’s nudge will help”.
The petition seeks directions to the Centre and Prasar Bharati to ensure broadcast of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in India through the public broadcaster.
As an interim measure, the plea asks the court to direct acquisition of rights for eight matches — the opening match, four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final — which have been notified as sporting events of national importance under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act and Rules.
As final relief, the petitioner has sought directions to secure broadcasting rights for all 104 matches of the tournament, either directly through the government or through an entity acting in coordination with Prasar Bharati.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 is scheduled to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico between June 11 and July 19, 2026. The plea states that India remains one of FIFA’s largest viewership markets and recorded 745.7 million interactions during the 2022 World Cup, second only to China.
According to the petition, no broadcaster has yet acquired media rights for the tournament in India, leaving the country among the few major markets without a confirmed telecast arrangement. The plea claims FIFA initially valued the combined Indian rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups at around $100 million but revised the asking price to around $35 million after limited market interest. It further alleges that a reported $20 million bid submitted by JioStar was rejected by FIFA as being below expectations.
The petitioner argued that denial of access to the telecast would infringe citizens’ fundamental right to receive information and access events of national importance. The plea relies on notifications issued under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) framework, which classify the FIFA World Cup opening match, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final as events that must be made available on a free-to-air basis through Prasar Bharati.
The petition also cited Prasar Bharati’s previous telecast of all 64 matches of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 through a sub-licensing arrangement as evidence of its technical and institutional capacity to broadcast FIFA events nationally.
Stressing urgency, the plea said the World Cup is set to commence on June 11 and that, without timely intervention, millions of Indian viewers could be deprived of access to one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.
“We hope Prasar Bharati steps up and ensures that the millions of football fans of our country are not denied a chance to view the biggest football event in the world. If they fail to rise to the occasion, it would be a huge step back for the development of the sport of football in India, which is already suffering from a serious lack of funds, among other problems,” Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar said.
 "Delhi High Court")