Sky Sports Strikes New Rugby Deal
Sky Sports has signed a new five-year TV rights deal with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) covering all England international matches played at home or overseas outside of the RBS 6 Nations and the Rugby World Cup.
The agreement, which begins in 2010, takes the relationship between the RFU and Sky Sports into an 18th year with an extended range of rights.
All England home matches outside the RBS 6 Nations will be exclusively live, including the Autumn Investec Challenge series at Twickenham and Rugby World Cup warm-up matches, plus all away matches, including summer tours to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa over the five-year period.
The deal also includes other international fixtures such as live coverage of England Saxons matches, including the Barclays Churchill Cup and Barbarians games, England Under- 20s matches, England Under 18s matches and the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England.
Starting in 2010-11 there will also be coverage of the County Championship finals , the England Counties XV, the Varsity Match, the Army v Navy match, the IRB World Sevens Series and the Middlesex Sevens.
Sky will also have live match coverage and highlights rights to the RFU’s proposed new competitions currently under discussion – the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the Anglo-Welsh Trophy, the Championship (previously National League One) and the National Clubs Championship – which are expected to commence by 2010/11.
The deal also includes online rights; live matches will be simulcast on Sky Sports channels on Sky Player – the online TV service.
The new contract renewal bolsters Sky’s existing rugby union line-up including live coverage of European and domestic competition with the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup, and the Guinness Premiership as well as next summer’s British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.
