Zee & Sony Sports in Direct Talks With ISL Clubs Over Media Rights for 2026-27 Season

Indian football is undergoing its most significant structural shift in years — and the broadcasting landscape is right at the heart of it. With the Indian Super League transitioning to a club-led commercial model, Zee and Sony Sports are now engaged in direct talks with ISL clubs over who gets to broadcast India’s premier football division in the 2026-27 season and beyond. The race for ISL media rights has well and truly begun.

The Big Structural Shift

The most fundamental change underpinning these talks is how the ISL is now structured commercially. The ISL is moving to a club-led commercial model starting this season, with clubs now holding the broadcasting and sponsorship rights, while the AIFF keeps administrative and regulatory oversight — as announced at a joint press conference on July 8, 2026.

This is a seismic departure from the previous model, under which Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) controlled the league’s commercial rights and distributed them centrally.

Each of the 14 clubs pays an annual participation fee of ₹1.10 crore, split into two instalments, and the AIFF also collects 10% of the league’s net profit under the new arrangement.

The Bidding Process

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has officially set the wheels in motion for the upcoming domestic calendar by floating the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Indian Super League (ISL) media rights, covering the 2026-27 season — a critical juncture for the broadcasting future of India’s premier football division.

The Managing Committee released the Request for Proposal on July 25, 2026, inviting bids for broadcast, digital and production rights, with submissions due by August 8, 2026.

The newly released RFP offers a comprehensive bundle of exclusive media rights that prospective networks and platforms can acquire. According to the tender, the successful bidder will secure broadcasting rights across multiple key platforms, including live television broadcast and traditional linear TV rights.

Who Is at the Table?

The formal tender process is expected to draw significant interest from major players in the Indian sports broadcasting ecosystem. In recent bidding cycles and pre-bid conferences for domestic football, industry giants like Sony Sports, FanCode, Viacom18, and Zee have all demonstrated interest in the Indian football market.

This is not the first time these broadcasters have circled ISL rights. Four companies were present at the virtual pre-bid conference for the ISL 2025-26 season: Sony Sports, FanCode, Zee Sports, and UK-based sports consultancy Two Circles.

Zee, Sony and FanCode have all previously been in the Indian football broadcasting ecosystem, with Sony previously broadcasting the Durand Cup and the I-League.

Zee, on the other hand, was the commercial partner of India’s premier men’s division — then the I-League — between 2005 and 2014.

How ISL Media Rights Have Evolved

Sony’s Most Recent ISL Involvement

FanCode, which holds the media rights for the league, sub-licensed the linear television rights to SPNI, with matches primarily airing on Sony Sports Ten 2 during the 2025-26 season.

SPNI held exclusive television rights in India and non-exclusive rights in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Nearly 100 million viewers watched football on Sony’s sports channels in 2025, underlining the growing appetite for the sport in the country, with the partnership bringing the excitement of homegrown football talent and fierce rivalries to millions of fans.

FanCode held the exclusive media rights for the truncated 2025-26 season, sub-licensing television coverage to Sony Sports Network. Whether that partnership continues into 2026-27 depends entirely on how the new bidding process plays out.

Zee’s Growing Football Ambitions

While Sony has recent ISL experience to lean on, Zee is aggressively building its football portfolio to compete. Zee Entertainment Enterprises has fortified its premium football offerings by securing the exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the prestigious Italian football leagues — Serie A, along with the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana — for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives for a period of five years, commencing on August 22, 2026.

Together with FIFA and Bundesliga rights, the Serie A acquisition further strengthens Zee’s ability to offer compelling football content, with upcoming seasons of Serie A, Bundesliga and an extensive slate of FIFA tournaments positioning the company as a comprehensive destination for international football content.

ISL 2026-27 — Key Details

What Is at Stake

With the official RFP now available to the public, prospective broadcasters will evaluate the commercial viability and submit their technical and financial bids. As the AIFF and ISL prepare for a highly anticipated 2026-27 campaign, securing a robust broadcasting partner is the next vital step to ensure the league reaches millions of passionate supporters worldwide.

The season is tentatively scheduled from September 1, 2026, to April 11, 2027, with these dates still needing final approval from the AIFF Executive Committee.

The broadcaster who secures these rights will not only be acquiring a football league — they will be anchoring Indian football’s most ambitious commercial reinvention to date.

Key Broadcasters — Compared

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