Gearing up for the 26thedition of the FIFA World Cup, Zee Entertainment announced its all-access subscription pack for the world series on its OTT platform ZEE5 starting at a quarterly fee of ₹799.
The all-access pack provides users with FIFA live streaming along with all the other contents on ZEE5, as per the platform in a blog post. Other plans or bundled offerings will not include livestreaming of the soccer event but users can upgrade to their preferred access pack as and when needed.
The pack comes in two alternatives: a three-month plan and a yearly plan of ₹1,699. The three-month plan allows live viewing of the FIFA World Cup 2026 during the main football season but includes ads. Meanwhile, the yearly plan provides a “largely ad-free” experience barring some live channels.
For its linear broadcasting, Zee will charge a monthly fee of ₹7 on Unite8 Sports 1 and ₹9 for its HD version. The other channel Unite8 Sports 2 will charge ₹8 on a monthly basis and ₹11 for its HD streaming.
Earlier, match-viewing was free on Reliance Jio’s platform. However, subscription revenues are expected to be the most important monetisation driver for Zee for the FIFA rights package, as per Elara Securities. Zee’s acquisition estimated at ₹260-330 crore by the brokerage is around 40-50 per cent lower than the previous cycle.
“Assuming an effective blended ARPU of around ₹400 per subscriber across monthly and annual plans, ZEE would need to add approximately 2.5-3 million incremental subscribers to recover an annualised rights cost of roughly ₹150 crore. This estimate excludes additional spending towards marketing, channel promotion, distribution and ecosystem building, which could potentially increase the total investment commitment by another 20-30 per cent,” said Elara Securities in its research note.
Screening partnerships
In preparation to the match, Zee also established screening partnerships to Novex Communications, Eagles FC Kerala, Zion Bridge, and What’s up Goa to facilitate official public viewing opportunities.
These partners will work with venues and establishments for legal and authorised screening of FIFA World Cup 2026 matches. Further, Zee has partnered with PVR INOX and Cinepolis to bring select FIFA World Cup 2026 matches to cinema screens across India. The public viewing rights will allow many cinemas, pubs, restaurants, clubs, gymkhanas, airports, educational institutions and hotels to host official screenings of FIFA World Cup 2026 matches.
“Through our screening partnerships, we are creating opportunities for communities to come together and experience the passion, excitement and energy of football in a seamless manner. In today’s attention economy, live sports remain one of the few formats capable of bringing large audiences together in real time. As football continues to witness growing popularity in India, these partnerships will play a key role in creating memorable shared experiences for fans across the country,” said Gareth Eswin Thomas, Business Head – Zee Live, Zee Entertainment Enterprises.