PARIS --While sports glory beckons for Italy and France in Sunday's soccer World Cup final, broadcasters back in the teams' respective countries are not necessarily going to come out winners.

For French commercial broadcaster TF1, the national team's seven-match run, including the final, means the possibility of cutting losses rather than cashing in on a winning run. The network shelled out a whopping €100 million ($127.6 million) for free-to-air rights for 24 of the 64 matches, including all those involving France.

In return, TF1 has set a string of viewing records throughout the tournament. France's 1-0 semifinal win over Portugal on Wednesday drew 22.2 million viewers for a market share of 76.7%, the best-ever audience on French television since the current measurement system was introduced in 1989.

Toward the end of the game, audience share peaked at close to 90%.

Only one of France's six matches so far failed to attract fewer than 18 million viewers, helping the channel rake in up to $8 million in advertising receipts in a single game. TF1 can reckon on an even bigger audience for Sunday's final, when a 30-second spot will cost €250,000 ($325,000).

But despite the ratings success, TF1 expects to post a loss of close to €40 million ($52 million) on the tournament. "We expect net advertising receipts of just over €70 million, and our costs, including production costs, are around €110 million," a channel spokesman said.

This is seen as a price worth paying by TF1 executives. "We're extraordinarily satisfied," the spokesman said. "We'll do the adding up at the end," the channel's general manager Etienne Mougeotte told local media. He added that broadcasting the tournament is "absolutely essential to maintain TF1's status as leading channel."

A place in the final won't equate to a cash windfall in Italy either since ads were sold as a package based on the national team progressing that far anyway. If they had failed, pubcaster RAI and pay TV broadcaster Sky would have compensated advertisers with free ads for other events. The estimated cost of a 30-second spot on RAI during the tournament is about $145,000.

Italy's semifinal win over Germany on Tuesday, set an all-time record. The game was watched by 28 million Italians, a half-million more than watched the 1990 World Cup semifinal between Italy and Argentina.

The final is predicted to attract 33 million-34 million viewers in Italy, boosted by the natural rivalry between the two countries and a hunger for some good news involving soccer in Italy, where the sport is in the grip of a huge match-rigging scandal.

"It would be absolutely impossible to create a more perfect media event than this final game on Sunday night," said Valentino Cagnetta, managing director of media buying company Media Italia.

For its part, rival French network M6, which paid €27 million ($35 million) to secure rights to 31 World Cup matches for the first time in its 20-year existence, more than doubled its typical audience, achieving an average market share of about 30.6%. The company is expected to post a loss of €10 million-€15 million ($13 million-$19.5 million) on its World Cup spend.

Even with the home team out of contention for the final, German pubcaster ARD and ZDF who shared rights are calling this year's tournament "an extraordinary success," with ratings for live matches setting new all-time records.

The high point was reached in Germany's dramatic knockout by Italy. Nearly 29.7 million Germans watched the game live on ZDF, the highest-ever sports viewing figure in the territory. The previous record holder was Germany's 1990 World Cup final victory over Argentina, which drew 28.7 million viewers.

"This tournament has ex-ceeded our wildest expectations," a ZDF spokesman said. "The performance of the German team created a fever pitch across the country that still hasn't gone away, despite the defeat to Italy."

For the so-called "little final" to decide third place between Germany and Portugal on Saturday, ZDF still expects to draw 24-28 million viewers thanks to the home side's presence. "When Germany plays it goes beyond soccer, it becomes a cultural phenomenon," a channel spokeswoman said. "We get ratings of up to 90%. People who never watched soccer, who aren't even interested in sport, have to watch the game."

The broadcasters point out that actual viewing figures for the World Cup games were even higher, as ratings meters do not take into account the millions that watch matches at outdoor events, in bars and restaurants or at World Cup parties across the country. In an internal survey, ZDF estimated that taking this into account will add an additional 15% to the total viewing figures.

Both ARD and ZDF are keeping mum as to the financial pay-off from the tournament. Together, the public broadcasters paid €180 million ($229 million) for rights. The record sum was still well below the €280 million ($356 million) originally de-manded for Germany.

The German squad's success definitely boosted advertising revenue. A 30-second spot on ARD during the June 30 Germany-Argentina quarterfinal cost up to $408,000. Had Germany been knocked out earlier, ARD would have charged about a quarter of that.

Unfortunately for the pubcasters, German law forbids them from carrying commercials after 8 p.m., which means ARD is going ad-free for Sunday's final. "We're public broadcasters, so for us the World Cup was never about making money," an ARD spokeswoman said.

Scott Roxborough in Cologne, Germany, and Eric Lyman in Rome contributed to this report.