{"id":766373,"date":"2026-07-16T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/766373\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T14:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:03:14","slug":"telemundo-is-the-best-place-to-watch-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/766373\/","title":{"rendered":"Telemundo is the best place to watch the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Giovanni Canales only knows one way to watch the World Cup: In Spanish on Telemundo.\n <\/p>\n

\n Canales, 24, was raised in Rhode Island by a father who formerly played for the Honduran national team. And in his household, the Spanish-language network\u2019s spirited soccer commentary, with sportscaster Andr\u00e9s Cantor\u2019s signature cries<\/a> of \u201cgoooooooool,\u201d are essential to the viewing experience. Never mind that Canales doesn\u2019t speak Spanish himself \u2014 the way that Telemundo announcers start talking faster as the action on the pitch intensifies is its own kind of language. Even if he steps away from the TV for a moment, he can rest assured that he won\u2019t miss anything important (something he made light of in a recent Instagram reel<\/a>).\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSometimes I just doze off if it\u2019s in English,\u201d he adds.\n <\/p>\n

\n For many Latin American fans in the US, watching the World Cup in Spanish is a given. But for the 2026 tournament, even some people who don\u2019t have Latin American roots or who don\u2019t speak Spanish are opting for Telemundo over Fox. Meghan Dyer Pavs<\/a>, a former elementary school teacher outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, calls Telemundo broadcasts \u201cthe best thing in American culture right now.\u201d Having already convinced her kids and husband of her position, she recently converted her college roommate, too. Comedian Trevor Noah<\/a> is also a fan, declaring Telemundo \u201cthe best coverage in town.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n This World Cup has been particularly successful<\/a> for Telemundo. Last month, the network reported that it was pacing at \u201cmore than double\u201d its audience for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. The July 5 match between Mexico and England drew in a record 23.2 million viewers for the network, according to Variety<\/a>. Fox Sports, which holds the English-language broadcast rights, saw around 21.7 million viewers for the same game. And while Fox\u2019s viewership has generally been higher than Telemundo\u2019s for games with no connection to Latin America, Defector\u2019s Diana Moskovitz<\/a> notes that the difference is not as vast as one might expect. (Given the tension this has caused between the two networks, CNBC\u2019s Alex Sherman<\/a> reports that FIFA is potentially looking to package English- and Spanish-language US rights together for the next men\u2019s tournament.)\n <\/p>\n

\n Telemundo is well aware of its new viewer base. If anything, the hype around Telemundo\u2019s World Cup coverage is the result of a deliberate strategy: The network began courting non-Spanish speakers months ago, with a Super Bowl ad<\/a> featuring Owen Wilson, noted non-Latino, getting swept up in the energy of Telemundo\u2019s commentators. And during last month\u2019s France-Sweden match, one announcer briefly switched into English to thank viewers<\/a> who don\u2019t speak Spanish for watching.\n <\/p>\n

\n As Spain faced Belgium in the quarterfinals last Friday, Socceria, a new soccer-themed cantina in Brooklyn, was streaming Telemundo on its screens. Owner Tania Apolinar, who hails from Torre\u00f3n, Mexico, says the bar has been showing around 95% of the matches in Spanish, though it has occasionally experimented with Fox for games that don\u2019t involve Spanish-speaking nations. \u201cBut then we kind of regret it in the moment,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s more fun on Telemundo.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n Fun is also a major reason why Dyer Pavs prefers the Spanish-language broadcast \u2014 she says the passionate and energetic commentary has proved more engaging for her 8- and 11-year-old kids. As someone who majored in Spanish in college, she also relishes the opportunity to practice her language skills. And it\u2019s a chance to introduce her kids to the vibrant and joyous soccer culture of Latin America. \u201cI talk to parents who think that in order to expose them to other cultures, we have to take a $1,000 flight to Paris or whatever,\u201d she says. \u201cBut this is American culture. It\u2019s just a different version of American culture on your TV.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Serious soccer fans note that Telemundo doesn\u2019t cut to commercials during the hydration breaks (known to habitual viewers as \u201clas pausas de hidrataci\u00f3n\u201d), allowing spectators to witness key moments of tension and anticipation among players and coaches. Others cite Fox\u2019s pro-America bent \u2014 or a general dislike of the network\u2019s analyst, Alexi Lalas<\/a>, and his support of President Donald Trump \u2014 as a reason for choosing Telemundo. Then there are budgetary considerations \u2014 watching the World Cup on Fox Sports requires either a cable or YouTube TV subscription, or a $19.99 a month subscription to Fox Sports, while the Peacock subscription tiers that include live sports start at $10.99 a month.\n <\/p>\n

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\n The real soccer heads also bristle at the nonstop, play-by-play commentating style of American announcers. \u201cAmericans generally call out every single action which makes it sound like a hockey match, which is not how they do it in England and other countries,\u201d Josh Borock, one of the partners behind Socceria, says. \u201cWith Telemundo they kind of do that, but it sounds better in Spanish.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n For all the enthusiasm around Telemundo, its World Cup broadcasts aren\u2019t without critics. Alex, who was watching Friday\u2019s game at Socceria and asked to be identified only by his first name, is a fluent Spanish speaker who watches nearly every game on Telemundo, unless Argentina is playing: In his view, Argentinian announcer Cantor is blatantly biased in favor of his home country.\n <\/p>\n

\n Courtney Nam, a Socceria patron who isn\u2019t fluent in Spanish, said that watching on Telemundo meant she might miss some nuance in more technical moments. \u201cBut you can kind of tell what\u2019s happening at the end of the day,\u201d she said. More seasoned fans, like Kevin Gleason, were less concerned about their ability to follow along: \u201cI know what I\u2019m watching and I know what I\u2019m seeing, and I can follow the tempo of the announcers to know how the excitement\u2019s going.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, another patron, who declined to be publicly identified, seemed frustrated when approached after the game that he couldn\u2019t understand any of the commentary.\n <\/p>\n

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\n But for the most part, the crowd at Socceria \u2014 Latin American and non-Latin American \u2014 seemed to be there for the atmosphere. Emily Hittner said she\u2019d been watching most of the World Cup on Telemundo because \u201cit just feels like a more exciting way to watch the game.\u201d Gleason said he preferred the Telemundo experience because \u201cfor me, there\u2019s a lot more heart behind the game.\u201d In the game\u2019s most dynamic moments, though, the language of the commentary became entirely secondary: The audience was cheering so loudly that you could hardly hear the announcers crying \u201cgooooool\u201d or \u201cgolgolgolgolgol\u201d at all.\n <\/p>\n

\n While most of Socceria\u2019s clientele have embraced watching the games in Spanish, Borock says it will occasionally get the odd customer who hasn\u2019t yet caught up to the Telemundo phenomenon. Recently, he said a patron who had come to the bar to watch England play asked why the game was being shown in Spanish. \u201cWe\u2019re a Mexican restaurant,\u201d Borock replied.\n <\/p>\n