Dhaka, July 19 -- Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan on Sunday said the government has reduced its net expenditure for broadcasting the 2026 FIFA World Cup to almost zero by purchasing the media rights directly from FIFA and recovering most of the cost through sub-licensing.

He said the government purchased the media rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup directly from FIFA for US$3.85 million. It subsequently recovered most of the expenditure by sub-licensing the rights to four domestic broadcasters.

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"So, the government's actual expenditure has now been reduced to between Tk 4 crore and Tk 5 crore, and we expect to recover the remaining amount ...