FOX Sports, Oculus Venues Take You to the World Cup in VR

View of an El Clásico game between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid on the Oculus Venues platform. (Courtesy of Oculus Venues)

FOX Sports plans on broadcasting 38 matches on its main channel during the World Cup, and 26 more on FOX Sports 1. But aside from that linear broadcast, the network will also transport fans as close to the action as possible without them having to make the trip to Russia. Fans will be able to watch a select group of games in virtual reality—and for free—via Oculus Venues.

That VR streaming experience will be available on both Oculus Go and Gear VR headsets. Fans in the U.S. will get their first chance to watch a game through Oculus Venues this Sunday morning (Germany v. Mexico). The other featured matches will be Portugal v. Morocco (Jun. 20), Brazil v. Costa Rica (Jun. 22), and England v. Panama (Jun. 24).

If you’re a paid TV subscriber, even more matches will be available in VR thanks to FOX’s partnership with LiveLike. As long as you’re signed in through your TV provider you can stream all 64 matches via the FOX Sports VR app, even if you don’t have a headset for the perfect viewing experience.

SportTechie Takeaway

Telemundo Deportes, which is broadcasting the event for the first time in its history, also has significant coverage planned. Similar to FOX Sports, Telemundo will be deploying a virtual reality app alongside its roughly 700 hours-worth of coverage of the World Cup. To hear more about Telemundo Deportes’ plans listen to EVP Eli Velazquez chat about his network’s coverage with Bram Weinstein on the most recent SportTechie podcast.