China’s national soccer team lost to Saudi Arabia on September 11, 2024, marking their second defeat in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers after suffering a 7-0 defeat to Japan last week. Meanwhile, fans are concerned not only about the team’s performance but also the availability of other match broadcasts.
Due to high copyright fees, CCTV did not broadcast the China-Japan match, leaving iQIYI Sports as the only legal streaming option. Fans had to subscribe to a VIP membership, Rmb9 (US$1.3) monthly or Rmb318 (US$45) yearly. However, the broadcast was plagued by glitches, lags and black screens. Following China’s loss to Japan, the hashtag “iQIYI charges for China soccer matches” trended on Weibo.
In response to the backlash, iQIYI apologized twice for the technical issues and refunded duplicate payments but retained its exclusive rights to broadcast China’s next match against Saudi Arabia. CCTV remained absent from broadcasting national soccer games.
“Everyone is used to paying for subscriptions and expected better service. The iQIYI app’s poor performance, despite the payment, frustrated many of us,” said Jing, a netizen whose post contributed to the viral hashtag on Weibo.
Sports event organizers continue to push for raising licensing fees, while fans are still reluctant to pay. This ongoing conflict is causing platforms to lose interest in acquiring broadcasting rights.
The issue started with a statement from CCTV just 35 minutes before the China-Japan match. CCTV explained that the broadcasting rights for the event are held by the Asian Football Group (AFG), an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) agent, and negotiations failed due to the high costs. CCTV emphasized its commitment to national interests and its resistance to disruptions in the sports rights market. Although CCTV later removed the statement, it was clear that the high costs were the main reason for not broadcasting the match.
Wuhan DDMC Culture & Sports acquired iQIYI Sports for US$500 million in 2018. iQIYI Sports, built on the joint venture between iQIYI and Super Sports Media under DDMC, was later incorporated into the iQIYI system. It has typically avoided excessively priced sports rights, making the AFC’s current pricing seem unviable.
In 2023, AFC ended a series of contracts including commercial and broadcasting rights with a subsidiary of DDMC ahead of schedule and later partnered with AFG. Despite the backlash, iQIYI continues to hold the rights to broadcast the games.
The rising costs and decreasing fan willingness to pay are shrinking the sports rights market in China. Only a few major platforms, including CCTV, Migu Sports, Tencent Sports and iQIYI, remain active in the market. Even platforms like Bilibili, which have experimented with smaller events, are cautious about entering the broader sports rights arena.
- Cathy Li
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