ABC, ESPN to Broadcast All 2006 World Cup Games

ABC and ESPN will broadcast their fourth consecutive World Cup next year and will televise all 64 games in high definition.

The networks will not decide until after the draw Dec. 9 how to split the games among ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, they said Wednesday.

All games of the tournament in Germany from June 9 to July 9 will be broadcast live.

For the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, 58 games were televised live, with the final on ABC, 16 on ESPN and the rest on ESPN2. Because of the 13-hour time difference to the East Coast of the United States, games were on during the middle of the night.

All games were broadcast live during the 1998 tournament in France, with ABC televising 14, ESPN 27 and ESPN2 23. Germany, like France, has a six-hour time difference to the U.S. East Coast.

The networks, owned by the Walt Disney Co., acquired the rights from Soccer United Marketing, an affiliate of Major League Soccer. Financial arrangements were not announced.

SUM said it essentially gets the airtime for free, sells advertising and covers production costs, and the networks’ affiliates sell some advertising time.

At least 20 high-definition cameras will be used for each game by the host broadcaster, the networks said.