Austria's leading free-to-air broadcasters, ORF and ServusTV, have once again joined forces to share broadcasting rights for the upcoming major soccer tournaments. The two networks have agreed on a cooperative sub-licensing deal for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and UEFA European Championships 2028.
The Austrian public-service broadcaster ORF and Red Bull-owned commercial network ServusTV have maintained a strong partnership over the years. This latest agreement sees them splitting broadcasting rights between each other.
ORF holds the rights to broadcast the 2026 World Cup, while ServusTV has secured rights for Euro 2028. Under this new arrangement, both networks will be able to showcase significant portions of these prestigious tournaments.
Sharing of broadcasting rights
ServusTV is set to broadcast as many as half of all games from the expanded World Cup in 2026 - that's up to 52 matches out of a total of 104 games. Both broadcasters will equally share coverage of key stages in the tournament: four round-of-16 matches each, two quarter-final games each, and one semi-final fixture each. However, ORF retains exclusive rights to air the final match.
If Austria qualifies for these tournaments, both broadcasters will also split coverage involving their national team during group-stage ties. For Euro 2028, ORF will gain broadcast rights to almost half (25) of all matches (51). Similar sharing arrangements apply here too with equal distribution during knockout stages.
This agreement mirrors previous deals between these two networks which saw them sharing broadcasting privileges for FIFA World Cup in Qatar (2022) and European Championships (Euro) in Germany (2024).
Previous acquisitions
ServusTV acquired broadcasting rights for Euros in April last year after a tender was launched in February 2021. ORF, on the other hand, secured rights to this year’s World Cup through a deal struck back in 2023. At that time, ORF had mentioned the possibility of sub-licensing World Cup games - an opportunity it has now capitalized on.
The upcoming FIFA World Cup will be historic as it will feature 48 teams for the first time ever, up from 32 at the previous edition. Austria is currently favored to advance from its qualifying group for this tournament - a feat they haven't achieved since their last qualification in 1998.
