The Taiwan Affairs Office of China claims to "welcome compatriots on the island (Taiwan) to use mainland networks, apps, etc. to watch live broadcasts of the matches." Shih Ming-chin, chairman of the Taiwan Football Development Association and football commentator, stated that in unauthorized regions, watching broadcasts from other authorized viewing territories is actually an infringement of rights.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico is currently underway. In Taiwan, ELTA TV has secured the exclusive broadcast rights for the fourth consecutive time, and has authorized selected matches to be aired on cable TV (Eastern TV) and terrestrial TV (TTV).
Actor Lee Li-chun recently mentioned on social media that during the World Cup, "there's no way to watch it from Taiwan," and that "the sports channels only air baseball, or American NBA basketball," making this a trending topic in Chinese online communities.
During the 2014 World Cup, there was a rights infringement dispute between Era TV and ELTA. ELTA terminated Era’s signal transmission, prompting an emergency coordination to relocate World Cup broadcasts to other stations, which caused a major uproar. During the 2018 World Cup, the Taiwan Cable Broadband Industry Association criticized ELTA for monopolizing the bidding process, depriving viewers of the basic right to watch major international sporting events for free. In response, ELTA pointed out that platform operators should negotiate with ELTA through commercial channels for broadcast rights. After the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Cable Broadband Industry Association, Satellite TV Association, CTS, TTV, and FTV jointly called on all sectors and the government to facilitate universal broadcast of major international sporting events on all platforms.