It has been reported by Lanxiong Sports that Great Sports has become a partner of the CCTV5 2018 World Cup broadcast, obtaining the rights to broadcast the World Cup on the Great Sports television channel in Shanghai. 

This would be the fifth consecutive edition of the FIFA World Cup that Great Sports has broadcast. 

Great Sports is the most prominent and popular TV station in Shanghai, representing the unique “haipai” culture (Haipai means being influenced by overseas trends and often being very modern) in Shanghai. 

The TV station released their World Cup coverage plans on their official website yesterday (June 11), including recruiting popular Chinese football commentators and sending reporters to Russia to cover in-depth behind-the-scenes content and news to serve audiences. 

CCTV holds the exclusive media rights to the FIFA World Cup on mainland China. As of today only China Mobile’s MIGU and Alibaba’s Youku have acquired live media rights  with Alibaba’s UC obtaining the video rights to the World Cup. CCTV had officially stated previously that they would definitely not sell the media rights to other media. 

Lanxiong Sports claims there are other domestic TV stations that have obtained the media rights from CCTV in addition to Great Sports. 

Source: Lanxiong Sports, Great Sports  

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick