Today, Communications Minister Dato’ Fahmi Fadzil announced that the broadcasting rights for the 2026 World Cup in Malaysia are held by Unifi TV and RTM. This comes just 37 days before the world’s biggest football tournament begins as many fans are worried about missing out on watching it legally in Malaysia.
Following the announcement, Astro issued an official statement saying that they are in discussions with broadcasting rights holders in Malaysia to broadcast the World Cup matches via Astro, NJOI and Sooka to expand their reach to millions of additional viewers.
They also confirmed that they were involved in a bid for broadcasting rights with FIFA but their offer was not accepted. This ends Astro’s 20-year World Cup broadcasting rights. Astro also stated that the cost of international broadcasting rights has increased due to inflation and global competition. This is not helped by rampant piracy, including the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, reducing the commercial value of broadcast rights for legitimate platforms
It is now up to Unifi TV and RTM whether they want to allow Astro to receive some World Cup matches, perhaps by slowing down selected matches received by RTM. This is an awkward situation for Astro because during the 2018 World Cup, they blocked matches from being shown on RTM if they were watched on Unifi TV.
