Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Free-To-Air Broadcast Of FIFA World Cup 2026 On Doordarshan

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice on a plea seeking directions on the Union Government and Prasar Bharti to ensure that FIFA World Cup 2026 is broadcasted in India through free-to-air public broadcasting platforms like Doordarshan and DD Sports.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav sought response of the Union Government through Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as well as Prasar Bharti.

Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar appeared for the petitioner- Avdhesh Bairwa, and argued that denying access to the tournament would not only violate citizens' rights but also adversely affect promotion of football and sports culture in the country.

At the outset, the Court asked Gaggar to file a PIL on the issue and added that entertaining the plea would amount to exercising the PIL power.

Gaggar submitted that earlier, writ petitions used to be entertained for broadcasting matters and that it will not amount to an “out of zone consideration.”

Thereafter, the Court issued notice on the plea and asked the respondent authorities to obtain instructions. The matter is now listed on May 20.

The plea states that earlier, the tournament used to be broadcasted through Doordarshan, Ten Sports, ESPN Star sports, Sony Pictures Networks India, JioCinema but today, no broadcaster has acquired the broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in India.

It submits that the tournament is classified by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a “sporting event of national importance” under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 and the notification dated 09.05.2022.

According to the petition, FIFA initially valued the India rights package at nearly USD 100 million, later reducing it to USD 35 million due to lack of market interest, but no final deal has been concluded.

It is Bairwa's case that such a situation could deprive millions of Indian viewers of access to one of the world's biggest sporting events.

Petitioner was represented by Sr. Adv. Vaibhav Gaggar through Hammurabi & Solomon Partners, with Advocates Ankit Konwar, Avdhesh Bairwa, Subhashni Kumari, Prateek Singh, Nishi Rathore, Nishi Kashyap, Abhishek Nair, Akash Kumar and Arpit Pandey

Title: AVDHESH BAIRWA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS