How to stream the 2022 World Cup
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is here and we’re going to breakdown all of the ways you can stream all of the games.
This years World Cup runs between Sunday November 20 - Sunday December 18, 2022 and is in Qatar.
In Canada the broadcast and streaming rights for the World Cup is held by Bell and they will be showing games on their CTV / TSN properties but that isn’t the only option to stream all of the action for this years tournament.
Below we look at all of the options for cordcutters and look at who offers the best coverage of this years FIFA World Cup. We looked at a wide range of criteria including if the streaming service is free or requires a subscription, the quality of the streams themselves as well as how easy it is to find live and on demand games. Lastly we looked at just how many ads you have to sit through and if they are skippable.
NOTE: An earlier version of this article included actual video screenshots of every app in action but FIFA made a copyright strike against every one even though we were only showing a few seconds of only one match as an example of what the streaming service quality of the stream looked like as well as the amount of ads and the functionality of being able to fast forward through on demand streams.
CTV / TSN / RDS
Bell Canada’s TSN / RDS / CTV channels are the official rights holders for this years World Cup in Canada. With Canada competing in this years World Cup Bell has said they will have more than 200 hours of live coverage, with pre- and post-game shows for every game. The full Bell press release about their coverage can be found here.
CTV has a free app that is available to download and watch on various devices. You can see the full list of supported devices here. The CTV app is available on most streaming devices like Apple TV HD and 4K, tvOS 14+, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2+, Android TV OS 7.0+ on Sony Android TV, nVIDIA Shield & Xiaomi Mi Box devices, Samsung SmartTV and blu-ray players with Samsung Smart Hub: 2017 – 2020 and various Roku devices.
The biggest problem with the CTV app is that is useless for most cord cutters for a variety of reasons. CTV for one is not showing every game. The full CTV / TSN schedule of games can be found here on the TSN website. If you want to watch the games live on CTV via streaming then you need a valid Canadian cable subscription to log into the CTV app with in order to watch the channel live. There is no way to subscribe and pay to access the CTV channel. CTV is also not making any of the games available on demand after the fact.
The overall navigation on the CTV app for the World Cup is lacking. In fact there was no up front placements indicating the the World Cup is even going on. Upon using the search function of the app we were able to find a placeholder for the tournament but since they offer no matches on demand there is no content associated with the placeholder.
Of course some may choose to gain access to CTV via an OTA (Over The Air) antenna. If you live in an area that is able to pick up the CTV channel with either and outdoor or simple indoor antenna you can watch some of the games for free live on CTV. The biggest challenge for many is that CTV is only showing a handful of games and the game times range from 4:30am (EST) to 12:00pm (EST) which means that if you do want to watch via an antenna you need to be sure to tune in at the time of the limited matches they are broadcasting and you won’t have anyway to rewind or fast forward through matches nor will you be able to watch any games on demand.
CTV Streaming World Cup Score: 2/10
Pros: Although you may be able to get access to the CTV live channel via an OTA (Over The Air) antenna you will only get access to a small handful of games and you can only watch them live. The CTV app is available on a wide variety of devices and platforms.
Cons: The CTV app can’t be used by most cordcutters to watch games live because they don’t have a cable provider login, none of the games are available on demand. No way to pay for the CTV app.
TSN’s app leading up to the World Cup has only be available on a handful of devices and platforms since it originally launched in 2014. Prior to this years World Cup it was only available on Apple TV 4+, OS version 9.0+, Samsung SmartTV and blu-ray players with Samsung Smart Hub: 2014 – 2018, LG Smart TV, 2018 and later and various tablets and smartphones. The TSN website has been indicating that more device support would be coming soon ever since launching in 2014. In the weeks leading up to this years World Cup TSN finally launched versions of their streaming app for other devices including Roku TV and streaming players and Amazon Fire TV Stick. The full updated list of supported devices can be found here.
The TSN streaming service can be accessed two different ways. If you have TSN as part of your cable package you can log into the streaming app with your cable credentials and access the same TSN live feeds. You can also subscribe to the service directly without the need of a cable subscription for $19.99 (CA) per month, they also have other price points that have been introduced recently.
TSN Pricing Points
For French speaking Canadians RDS is the home of the World Cup. The TSN sister service looks and works the same way as TSN. You can log into the app with a cable provider subscription or you can pay the same $19.99 a month to subscribe to it directly. While TSN launched their service on additional streaming devices prior to the World Cup start, RDS did not so as of now it is only available on the Apple TV. The full list of supported devices can be found here.
The biggest challenge with both the TSN and RDS apps is that the overall user interface is clumsy and hard to navigate. While the live games are easy to find, the on demand games do not show up right away after matches conclude. Often they take hours to show up. While TSN & RDS have finally added a World Cup sub section for on demand games they aren’t dated with the match dates. Another big frustration is that you are forced to sit through multiple ads when you start the stream on top of the ad breaks baked into the matches themselves and you can’t skip or fast forward through them. You can however fast forward through the on demand stream after the initial ads have played.
TSN / RDS Streaming World Cup Score 6/10
Pros: TSN/RDS are showing all of the games live and on demand. Users can subscribe to the service.
Cons: The service can be buggy, lack of 4K and overall it is still considered to be overpriced. RDS not available on a wide range of devices.
BBC / iTV
In the UK the BBC and iTV are splitting the broadcast and streaming rights. The full schedule can be found here. Both the BBC and iTV apps are free to download and use. Both streaming services are showing their matches live and on demand.
Both the BBC and iTV app are very simple to navigate to the live channels showing the matches. The BBC app has a whole dedicated sub section of World Cup that includes games on demand and highlights.
BBC Streaming World Cup Score 9/10
Pros: The app is free to download and use. Live and on demand games are easy to find. All games are in 4K and look great.
Cons: The only negative is that the games are split between the BBC and iTV app.
The iTV app is not as easy to navigate. Live games are easy to find, but the only way we were able to find the on demand games is by using the search function. Once you do find them they are easy enough to stream. Quality of the stream is great and you can fast forward through the on demand games although there are way to many ads at the start of the stream that you are forced to sit through and you can’t skip them.
iTV Streaming World Cup Score 8/10
Pros: The app is free to download and use. Live games are easy to find. All games look great.
Cons: On demand games can only be found by using the search function.
Fox Sports / FS1
In the US Fox Sports or FS1 has the English broadcast and streaming rights for this years FIFA World Cup. Fox Sports has its own streaming app but you can’t subscribe directly to it. It’s classified as a TV Everywhere app meaning that the only way to use it is to login with a valid US cable subscription. Although beyond traditional cable providers you can also use live TV streaming services such as Hulu Live, YouTube TV, Sling TV and others to verify the app with.
The Fox Sports app is showing all games live and on demand in 4K. They have done a great job by creating a dedicated sub section and added right at the top of the app in the main navigation. So finding any of the games live or on demand is easy. The main negative again is that with on demand games you can fast forward to the start of the match but you then have to sit through a ton of ads you cannot skip through.
Fox Sports Streaming World Cup Score 7/10
Pros: Great user interface to find all live and on demand games in one place. Games look great in 4K.
Cons: You can’t subscribe directly to the app, way to many ads in on demand games.
Peacock - Telemundo
NBC who owns Telemundo and the Peacock streaming service has the Spanish US broadcast and streaming rights. Peacock has two subscription options one with commercials and one without.
All of the World Cup matches are available live and on demand as part of the paid subscription.
Peacock/Telemundo Streaming World Cup Score 9/10
Pros: Great user interface to find all live and on demand games in one place. Games look great in 4K. Service is affordable.
Cons: Really only negative is if you don’t speak Spanish.
Tubi (US)
Tubi in the US is also streaming all of the games on demand only, not live. Unfortunately every time we tried to stream a game it didn’t work. We’ll update this once the app is fixed.
SBS On Demand
In Australia the streaming service SBS On Demand has the broadcast and streaming rights to this years World Cup. The streaming app is free to download and use with no subscription cost.
SBS offers streams of all games live and on demand. It’s easy to navigate and find both the live streams and the on demand games as everything can be found in its own special World Cup section in the app. The one downside with SBS’s on demand games is that fast forwarding through them seems to be disabled.
SBS On Demand Streaming World Cup Score 9/10
Pros: Great user interface to find all live and on demand games in one place. Service is free.
Cons: No ability to fast forward in on demand games.
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