June 5 – With less than two weeks to go before the tournament starts, FIFA has secured a domestic TV deal in Russia to broadcast the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup with national sports channel Match-TV.
Russian broadcasters had previously refused to pay the $120 million asking price for rights claiming it didn’t reflect the economics in the host market. This was a $32 million increase on the price paid for the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
No figure has been announced for the new deal.
Speaking at the 2017 St. Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Russia, Tina Kandelaki, Match-TV general producer said: “Match-TV will be broadcasting the matches of the (FIFA 2018) World Cup and the (FIFA 2017) Confederations Cup.”
“Fans will have a full access to developments around the Russian national football team,” she said.
“The negotiations took some time, but this is a standard process.”
Match-TV is owned by Gazprom-Media, and which is owned of state-broadcaster Russian Channel One and VGTRK.
The Confederations Cup kicks off June 17 in St Petersburg with opther matches to be played in Moscow, Sochi, and Kazan. Competing teams are Australia, Cameroon, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Chile, and Germany – as well as hosts Russia.
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