Telemundo Deportes announces World Cup broadcast plans

Telemundo – holder of Spanish-language rights to the Fifa World Cup in the US – has announced its multiplatform coverage plans for this summer’s event. 

The broadcaster will show all 64 World Cup matches, most with the commentators live at the matches and will also stream all games via its Telemundo Deportes app. It will also have a daily highlights show in prime time each night of the tournament. 

In total Telemundo will have over 1,500 hours of live coverage from Russia. It will have over 500 employees based in Russia with hundreds more in Miami working on the coverage. 

Viviana Vila will serve as analyst for select matches during the tournament, joining Telemundo Deportes’ team of play-by-play commentators and analysts led by four-time Emmy Award winner Andres Cantor. She will be the first woman to serve as a co-commentator for World Cup matches on US television. In addition, Telemundo will also have 12 renowned soccer personalities as guest analysts including 1986 World Cup winner Claudio Borghi and 2010 World Cup Golden Ball winner Diego Forlan. 

Coca-Cola, Sprint and Volkswagen will sponsor Telemundo’s broadcasts. Half-time and post-game coverage will be presented exclusively by Sprint and Coca-Cola, respectively, and Volkswagen will present the network’s prime-time show.

Telemundo Deportes president Ray Warren said: “This will be the most consumed and most widely distributed digital event in Spanish-language television history. All of the initiatives announced today support our mission to bring our viewers the most authentic and complete coverage in the history of the tournament.”

Telemundo recently announced a partnership with Copa90 to create the first-ever Hispanic content creator network focused exclusively on soccer. The initial stage of the campaign kicked off in February, encouraging soccer fans across the U.S. to submit video content that shows what fuels their passion for their national team, and demonstrate how they plan to support their team’s efforts during the World Cup. This effort will continue into the summer. 

The 2018 World Cup kicks off on June 14.