TV Answer Man, I read somewhere that you can watch the World Cup games for free on Tubi, the free streaming app. Is that true? How does that work? — John, Madison, Wisconsin.
John, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 soccer tournament begins on Sunday, November 20, and runs until December 18 with the final at 10 a.m. ET. There will be 32 teams competing in eight categories with the majority of the group matches featuring start times of 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET. (The United States is in group B with England, Wales and Iran.)
Tubi, the free live streaming service owned by Fox, will offer every game of the tournament for free. However, the games will not be live on Tubi. The streamer will add replays of the games for free after they are played. They will be available on demand and part of Tubi’s free World Cup channel which also features highlights and analysis of the event.
(You have to create an account to watch the Tubi World Cup channel, but no credit card or subscription is required. You can see the channel here. In addition to the 2022 World Cup action, Tubi is showing past games and related documentaries.)
If you’re not familiar with Tubi, it’s a free streaming service available on your computer, mobile phone or streaming device, such as Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, XBox, Chromecast, Xfinity X1 and Cox set-tops, and select LG, Samsung, Hisense, Sony and Vizio Smart TVs. The Tubi lineup consists of thousands of TV shows and movies from studios such as Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, MGM and Warner Bros.
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You can learn more about Tubi here at CutYourTVBill.com.
So if the live games won’t be free on Tubi, will anyone offer them for free?
The first 12 World Cup matches in Spanish (simulcast from Telemundo) will be available to Peacock subscribers on the free tier while the remaining 52 games (beginning on November 24) will be available to Peacock Premium subscribers. (Peacock Premium costs $4.99 a month.)
Your local Telemundo channel, which can be accessed with an antenna in most areas, will show 56 of the 64 games in Spanish for free; eight will be on Universo due to competing start times.
The local Fox network affiliate will have some games for free (again with an antenna). You can see a schedule here.
The Fox Sports and Fox Now apps will show the games for free, but you will need a subscription (and user name and password) to a pay TV service such as cable or satellite, or a live streaming service that carries Fox.
John, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!
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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman