Ready or not, here it comes. The FIFA World Cup is less than a month away in Toronto, and you won't be able to escape it unless you turn off your phone, your computer, your radio and your TV. 

During the Olympics, TV stations that didn't have the rights (i.e. everyone except CBC in Canada and NBC in the U.S.) could not show a frame of video highlights during their newscasts, and instead had to rely on less-than-perfect still pictures. 

Do these same rules apply to the World Cup games? If so, are we going to see the same crappy coverage that they were forced to provide during the Olympics? Because this hasn't really happened here before, I have no idea what the agreements are. But since Bell (TSN) seems to have locked up the rights to the matches here, does that mean the CBC, Global and City TV are out of luck?

The big difference on all this, of course, is that the Winter Olympics were a world away. These are taking place right in our backyard. Which makes them both an international and a local story. Although I'm not a soccer fan, purely from a broadcasting standpoint, I'll be curious to see how the non-rights holders handle this. 

And by the way, it's not just media. Local businesses are being harrassed about using the words "World Cup." And even they have to be careful. As the article below shows, some of the rules already in place are almost ludicrous. But they have to obey them or else. 

"FIFA’s website says the city must establish “clean zones” around stadiums and FIFA Fan Fest locations that “restrict the commercial activities of unauthorized businesses.” 

That means any promotional material for brands that could compete with FIFA or its partners would be prohibited. For example...if you’re Burger King, you can’t advertise within the clean zone because McDonald’s is an official FIFA sponsor."

FIFA is notorious for strict copyright rules. Here’s how Toronto businesses are navigating them