PCCW lands reassigned World Cup rights in Hong Kong

Hong Kong telco PCCW has acquired exclusive rights to the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

But it is unclear how the deal has come about, as Chinese internet company LeEco was thought to have held 2018 World Cup rights in the country.

Hong Kong newspaper The Standard said PCCW managing director Janice Lee did not disclose any details about how its deal was agreed, or the financial terms of the agreement, but did say that it was struck directly with Fifa, world football's governing body. 

LeEco has encountered severe financial difficulties since its deal was agreed in January 2016.

Under the deal with world football’s governing body, PCCW’s pay-television service, Now TV, will exclusively broadcast all 64 matches of the national team tournament live.

Free-to-air broadcaster ViuTV will broadcast 19 selected matches from Russia live, including the opening match, the two semi-finals and the final.