Once every four years, 32 national teams compete for the FIFA World Cup throne, while countries fight for the right to host the prestigious football tournament.<\/p>\n
In the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, Germany was crowned as champion (which marks the fourth time the country has earned the title) after beating Argentina in an intense final match.<\/p>\n
According to FIFA, more than 1 billion individuals<\/a> tuned in to watch the football final, and it was dubbed as the most watched sporting event in history.<\/p>\n The report further revealed 695 million people watched at least 20 minutes of the final at home, some 280 million watched it online or via mobile, while there were more than one billion out-of-home viewers!<\/p>\n This year, all eyes will be on Russian grounds from June 14 until July 15, as the football teams fly in to the European country to battle it out.<\/p>\n The first match will kick off in Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow at 6pm (11pm Malaysian time) where the host country will be going against Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n How do Malaysians watch the anticipated match? Well, there are two types of broadcasting rights<\/a> to the tournament which are Pay Tv and Free-to-Air.<\/p>\n So, here are your options and what time you can tune in to watch your favourite teams.<\/p>\n FTA rights are given to TV networks, such as RTM. As you may have read on the news, RTM will be showing the matches for free.<\/p>\n According to reports<\/a>, RTM obtained private sponsorship to cover the RM30 million cost of broadcasting 41 out of 64 matches to allow the public to enjoy the matches for free.<\/p>\n Malaysia\u2019s Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo<\/a> said 27 will be aired live and 14 will be delayed.<\/p>\n The matches will be broadcasted on RTM 1 and RTM 2. However, the list of which 41 matches will be shown, has yet to be announced.<\/p>\n In Malaysia, Pay TV broadcasting rights are held by Astro, which means they have the rights to air all 64 matches.<\/p>\n However, you will have to pay to enjoy access to the football matches through their World Cup Channel Pass, which comprises of different packages for both Astro and non-Astro customers.<\/p>\n These are the platforms subscribers to the World Cup Channel Pass will enjoy:<\/p>\n Here is the brief overview of Astro\u2019s World Cup Channel Pass packages you can subscribe to:<\/p>\n\n<\/span>Free-to-Air (FTA)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Pay TV<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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