List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Color Commentator(s)	Studio Host	Studio Analyst(s)
2006	ESPN ESPN2 ABC	Dave O'Brien	Marcelo Balboa	Brent Musburger	Eric Wynalda and Julie Foudy
2002	ESPN ESPN2 ABC	Jack Edwards	Ty Keough	Terry Gannon	Eric Wynalda and Giorgio Chinaglia
1998	ESPN ESPN2 ABC	Bob Ley	Seamus Malin	Brent Musburger	Eric Wynalda
1994	ESPN ESPN2 ABC	Roger Twibell	Seamus Malin	Jim McKay
1990	TNT	JP Dellacamera, Randy Hahn, and Bob Neal (Final only)	Rick Davis, Ty Keough, and Mick Luckhurst (Final only)
1986	ESPN NBC	JP Dellacamera Don Criqui and Charlie Jones (Final only)	Shep Messing Seamus Malin Seamus Malin, Rick Davis and Paul Gardner (Davis and Gardner only did the Final)
1982	PBS ESPN ABC (final only)	Toby Charles Bob Ley Jim McKay	None Seamus Malin Mario Machado and Paul Gardner
1978	No coverage
1974	CBS (used BBC's feed with BBC commentators)	David Coleman
1970	ABC	Jim McKay
1966	NBC (final only)	Jim Simpson

Notes

Over 100 nations have provided wall-to-wall coverage since the communications satellite launchings allowed for worldwide coverage beginning in 1966. European coverage of the World Cup has been extensive since 1954 (though with the World Cup held in Chile in 1962, much of the Euro coverage that year was tape-delayed).

The first American coverage of the World Cup consisted only of a same day tape-delayed telecast of the 1966 Final on NBC. The Final was aired before their coverage of the Saturday Major League Baseball Game of the Week. NBC used the black & white BBC feed and aired it on on a two hour tape delay

1970’s coverage was usually week-old highlights shown on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.

1974’s coverage also contained week-old highlights on CBS Sports Spectacular.

1978 had no coverage on American television at all.

In 1982, PBS and ESPN provided the first thorough American television coverage of the World Cup. ABC aired the first live telecast of the final. ABC aired commercials during the live action. Meanwhile, PBS aired same day highlights of the top game of the day.

1986 marked the first time that the World Cup had extensive live cable and network television coverage in the United States.

In 1990, the World Cup was covered exclusively by cable television (TNT) in the United States and had many features of the host country (Italy).

The 1994 American coverage had many firsts: The first with all of the matches televised, the first with no commercial interruptions during live action, and the first to feature an on-screen score & time box.

In 1998, all of the matches were televised in the United States live for the first time. The 2002 American coverage was all live as well, in spite of the games being played in Japan and South Korea. The 2006 coverage from Germany was fully live as well.

U.S. Spanish language television

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Color Commentator(s)
2006	Univision	Pablo Ramirez	Jesus Bracamontes and José Luis Chilavert
2002	Univision	Pablo Ramirez	Jesus Bracamontes
1998	Univision	Andrés Cantor	Norberto Longo
1994	Univision	Andrés Cantor	Norberto Longo
1990	Univision	Andrés Cantor	Norberto Longo
1986	SIN	Tony Tirado	Norberto Longo and Jorge Berry
1982	SIN (used Televisa's (Mexico) feed)	Gerardo Pena
1978	SIN	Tony Tirado	Enrique Gratas
1974	SIN	Tony Tirado
1970	SIN	Tony Tirado

See also

List of 2006 FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights
Sports television broadcast contracts - Australia
Sports television broadcast contracts - Latin America
Sports television broadcast contracts - United Kingdom
Sports television broadcast contracts - France
Sports television broadcast contracts - United States
BBC_Sport#Football
- Match of the Day
ITV_Sport#Football
- The Championship
- The Premiership (TV series)
Republica Deportiva
The World Game
ESPN MLS/Soccer Broadcast Teams
- World Cup Live

Sources