Telemundo TV Commentator Goes Off on World Cup Ad Break: "We Prefer The Old School Way"
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has brought plenty of talking points, but one of the loudest backlashes has come from soccer fans across the world, who are used to a clean, uninterrupted 90 minutes.
Forty-five minutes of action, a halftime break and another 45 to close it out. That's the format the sport has run on forever. But this tournament introduced something new. FIFA made hydration breaks mandatory for every match and broadcasters have been using those windows to run commercials.
For a lot of fans, it's killing the rhythm of the game. The frustration boiled over during the tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa. At the 22-minute mark of the second half, the referee called the mandatory hydration break and Fox Sports, which holds the English-language broadcast rights in the United States, went straight to commercials.
The network didn't make it back in time. When the feed returned, play had already been live for roughly 10 seconds.
Telemundo Commentator Calls Out World Cup Ad Breaks
Telemundo TV handled it differently. The Spanish-language broadcaster stayed on the stadium feed the entire time, showing players, coaches and sideline conversations without cutting away once.
That decision stood out, and the Telemundo commentator made sure to address it on air. During the live telecast of Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, he called out what's been happening across the rest of the broadcast landscape.
"We are one of the only networks in the world to NOT show ads during the World Cup cooling breaks," the commentator said, per Touchline. "We prefer the old school way. We should be able to see what the players do. We show fans, people enjoying, not the corporate direction of football."
Telemundo TV commentator: "We are one of the only networks in the world to NOT show ads during the World Cup cooling breaks."
— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) June 12, 2026
"We prefer the old school way. We should be able to see what the players do. We show fans, people enjoying, not the corporate direction of football." pic.twitter.com/8nVTsIiYQt
The cooling break rule itself is new to this tournament. FIFA made them mandatory across all matches at the 2026 World Cup.
Previously they were only allowed in extreme heat, like during the 2014 tournament in Brazil. Now they're a fixture in every game, which has created more ad space and a broadcast feel that soccer purists aren't exactly warming up to.
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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 1:44 AM.