Bangladesh Television (BTV) will broadcast all matches of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, ending uncertainty over whether fans in the country would be able to watch the tournament on television.
Alongside BTV, T Sports and Somoy Television will also air the matches. The three broadcasters have formed a consortium and secured the World Cup broadcast rights for Bangladesh from FIFA.
The uncertainty emerged after Singapore-based Springbok Private Limited, which had initially acquired Bangladesh’s broadcast rights from FIFA, failed to sell them locally and later withdrew from the deal. As a result, Bangladesh was left without an official broadcaster less than two weeks before the tournament.
To resolve the issue, Information and Broadcasting State Minister Yeaser Khan Chowdhury and Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) President Tabith Awal played key roles in coordinating discussions with sports channels, national media outlets, telecom operators and OTT platforms.
They also explored new revenue streams from the digital and telecom sectors, an approach not used in previous World Cup broadcasting arrangements in Bangladesh.
Viewers across the country will now be able to watch every World Cup match on BTV, while T Sports and Somoy Television will share coverage of the tournament.
The matches will also be available on digital platforms, including Banglalink’s OTT service Toffee and Grameenphone’s Bioscope.
Officials said BTV will not incur any financial cost for the broadcasts, as satellite television channels and telecom operators will jointly bear the full expense.
