Badminton — Where to Watch

Badminton is one of the most concentrated rights markets in sport. The professional calendar is run by the BWF as the World Tour, with the World Championships and the team events — the Thomas and Uber Cup, the Sudirman Cup — on top of it. Almost all of the broadcast demand sits in Asia, and so does almost all of the coverage.

This page is shorter than the others on the site, and deliberately so. Badminton is the sport where we found the least confirmable broadcaster data, particularly for Europe. Rather than pad the table out, this page lists what we could confirm and says plainly where the gaps are.

Country	Who shows it	Free option
Malaysia	Astro runs a dedicated 24/7 badminton channel carrying live BWF World Tour matches and repeats. It sits inside the Astro One Sports Pack, displayed at RM69.99 a month from a list price of RM99.99. SPOTV NOW is also sold in Malaysia and carries badminton.	None confirmed.
India	JioHotstar’s rights list includes the BWF. That list dates from February 2025, so verify it before subscribing for badminton alone.	Doordarshan must carry the All England Open and the BWF World Championships — Indian players’ matches plus the semi-finals and finals — under the must-share rules expanded on 11 June 2026. Free-to-air, and also on the free DD Free Dish satellite platform.
Indonesia	Badminton is a major property here. Vidio advertises it alongside football and basketball, and the 2026 Thomas and Uber Cup went out on Emtek’s channels with Vidio selling tournament subscriptions. MNC has also held BWF events, including the 2025 World Championships. Our sources do not agree on who holds what for 2026, so check the current holder before subscribing.	None confirmed.
South Korea	SPOTV carries badminton among its rights. It sells a basic tier at 9,900 won a month and a premium tier at 19,900 won.	None confirmed.
Taiwan	ELTA TV carries the BWF. Its live package is NT$115 a month or NT$1,150 a year, and viewing is geo-restricted to Taiwan and the offshore islands.	None confirmed.
Japan	J SPORTS lists badminton among its channel genres.	None confirmed.
UK and Europe	We could not confirm a single badminton broadcaster for the UK or for any mainland European market in our research. The All England Open is played in Birmingham, which makes the absence of a confirmed British broadcaster a genuine gap rather than an oversight in the sport’s popularity.	None confirmed.

Can you watch it free?

Once, in one country. India’s must-share rules oblige Doordarshan to carry the All England Open and the BWF World Championships, for Indian players’ matches and for the semi-finals and finals of those tournaments. That is a legal obligation rather than a commercial decision, which is why it survives.

Everywhere else we checked, badminton is behind a subscription. We looked for an official free BWF channel and could not confirm one from the sources in front of us, so this page does not claim one exists. If you find a service described that way, check who runs it and what it is licensed to show before trusting it.

Badminton is the sport where our data is thinnest. The gaps are real ones: no confirmed European broadcaster, and no confirmed badminton price for Indonesia. We would rather leave those blank than fill them with a guess. The rights in Asia also move between Emtek, MNC and SPOTV fairly often, so check the current holder for the tournament you want.

Where can I watch the BWF World Tour?

Malaysia is the clearest answer: Astro runs a dedicated 24/7 badminton channel carrying World Tour matches, inside its sports pack. SPOTV carries badminton in South Korea and across eight Asian markets, and ELTA carries it in Taiwan.

Is badminton free anywhere?

In India, under the must-share rules: Doordarshan carries the All England Open and the BWF World Championships for Indian players’ matches and for the semi-finals and finals. We could not confirm a free legal badminton broadcast anywhere else.

Why is there no confirmed UK or European broadcaster?

We could not find one in the research behind this site, and we have left the row blank rather than guess. Badminton’s rights in Europe are sold event by event, so a tournament can appear on a channel that does not normally show the sport.

Who holds the BWF rights in Indonesia?

Our sources disagree. Vidio advertises badminton, the 2026 Thomas and Uber Cup went out on Emtek channels, and MNC has held BWF events too. Verify the current holder for the specific tournament before subscribing.

Where to go next

Watching sport in India What is protected free-to-air Table tennis Volleyball Handball