India, June 5 -- The announcement that the World Cup will be televised is proof that the delay was more due to pricing than timing. Barring the 2002 iteration, the quadrennial showpiece has been a nocturnal/early morning affair in India and rarely, if ever, has there been a lack of interest.

Indian linear television viewership nearly doubled to 85.7m between 2010 and 2014 when marquee matches kicked off in the wee hours. The number went up to 745m in Qatar where again, many of the big games began after midnight IST. That, as per FIFA, was 2.9% of the global linear television audience, second only to China.

And yet the line of argument forwarded by Indian broadcasters, rarely on record, explaining the delay in the rights being sold was r...