[Stage Voices]Why Terrestrial Broadcasts of National Soccer Team Matches Are Welcome

Competition for Broadcasting Rights Among Media Outlets
Threatens the Public's Universal Right to View
Prioritizing Free-to-Air Channels in Negotiations Urged

Soccer national team matches will be broadcast on terrestrial TV for the first time in a while. The South Korean national soccer team, newly appointed under coach Hong Myung-bo, will play its first match in the third and final round of the 2026 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers on the 5th. South Korea is in Group B, and their first opponent is Palestine. This match will be broadcast on the terrestrial channel SBS and the online video service (OTT) provider Coupang Play.

Coupang Play signed a broadcasting rights contract with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in April last year for AFC-organized matches, including the 2026 CONCACAF World Cup Asian qualifiers. Coupang Play resold the World Cup qualifier broadcasting rights to the three terrestrial broadcasters, and starting with SBS, the three terrestrial broadcasters will take turns broadcasting the final qualifying matches. However, negotiations over the resale of broadcasting rights between the three terrestrial broadcasters and Coupang Play were sluggish and reportedly reached a dramatic agreement at the last minute. This situation threatened the public's universal right to view.

The universal right to view is a concept included in the 2007 amendment to the Broadcasting Act. It was introduced after the 2006 incident where the sports specialty channel IB Sports exclusively secured domestic broadcasting rights for AFC-organized South Korean national soccer team matches and did not resell those rights to terrestrial broadcasters. The concept was established with the intention of creating conditions so that as many citizens as possible could watch major sporting events such as the World Cup, Olympics, and Asian Games, which attract high public interest.

The national soccer team players are training on the 3rd at Goyang Sports Complex in Goyang City ahead of their first match against Palestine in the third round of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asian qualifiers.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Broadcasting Act specifically defines major sporting events and other key events of great public interest. According to it, the Summer and Winter Olympics and FIFA-organized World Cup matches involving adult male and female national teams must secure broadcasting means accessible to at least 90% of all households nationwide. Additionally, the Summer and Winter Asian Games, World Baseball Classic (WBC) matches involving national teams, AFC and East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) matches (including World Cup qualifiers) involving adult male national teams, and friendly matches between the two football associations' adult male national teams must secure broadcasting means accessible to at least 75% of all households nationwide.

The broadcasting rights for the English Premier League (EPL), the most popular overseas professional soccer league, will transfer from the current SPOTV to Coupang Play starting next season. As competition for broadcasting rights intensifies, the cost of these rights increases, making it more difficult to broadcast on terrestrial channels accessible to the majority of the public.

This year, controversy arose as the broadcasting rights for the most popular professional baseball league in South Korea, both wired and wireless, were transferred to an OTT provider. Since professional baseball is a league owned by private companies, it is difficult to reject market logic. However, national team matches are different. Although interest in events like the Olympics has declined compared to the past, national team matches still unify the public and foster pride in the country. For national team matches, measures such as prioritizing terrestrial free-to-air channels in broadcasting rights negotiations are necessary. Some countries, including the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, and Australia, are already known to have implemented such systems.