BT Sport has confirmed the opening matches of the 2014/15 Aviva Premiership that it will broadcast exclusively live on its channels over the first six weeks of the season.
Northampton Saints will kick off the defence of their Aviva Premiership crown and BT Sport’s live coverage of the new season with a Friday night home clash against Gloucester at a packed-out Franklin’s Gardens.
The champions, who won the title for the first time in their history following a thrilling extra-time defeat of Saracens at Twickenham in May, will get the new season under way on Friday, September 5, with the match kicking off at 7.45pm.
Saints’ clash with Gloucester is one of four matches to be broadcast live by BT Sport on the opening weekend, including the annual London Double Header at Twickenham on Saturday, September 6.
This year’s back-to-back extravaganza, where 65,000 fans will descend on English rugby’s HQ for the annual double header, features Saracens against Wasps, followed by London Irish against Harlequins
The final televised game of the weekend sees newly-promoted London Welsh host Exeter Chiefs on Sunday, September 7, kicking off at 2.00pm, while in the other non-televised opening weekend contests, Sale Sharks host Bath and Leicester entertain Newcastle.
The opening game between Northampton and Gloucester will evoke memories of last year’s reverse fixture at Kingsholm, which saw Saint’s Jamie Elliott score what would turn out to be the try of the season in front of the BT Sport cameras.
Other top matches during the season include the first rematch between Twickenham finalists Northampton and Saracens at Allianz Park on November 22, Saracens’ clash with Harlequins at Wembley on March 28 and the Christmas clash between Quins and Saints at Twickenham on December 27, all of which are likely to be picked by BT Sport for live broadcast in due course.
BT Sport will once again screen 69 exclusively live Aviva Premiership matches throughout the season, featuring all 12 sides in English club rugby’s top flight from the opening round in September through to the play-offs in May, with ITV again screening regular free-to-air highlights on Sunday evenings.
Craig Doyle presents BT Sport’s rugby coverage alongside analysts Lawrence Dallaglio, Ben Kay, Matt Dawson and Austin Healey, with match commentary provided by Nick Mullins and Alastair Eykyn, while Sarra Elgan and Martin Bayfield lead the pitchside reporting team.
According to figures released by Premiership Rugby, the number of people watching live Premiership rugby union on television rose by 40% in its first season of coverage on BT Sport, which is available at no extra cost for BT Broadband users.
Last season’s Aviva Premiership attracted an average live weekend TV audience of 358,000 across the 22 rounds of the 2013-14 regular season from September to May, while the average single match audience also increased to 118,000, up 38% on the previous season (2012/13).
A combined season audience of 7.88 million watched Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs live on BT Sport last season, compared to 6.14 million for the same period last year when live TV coverage of English rugby union’s top flight was broadcast jointly by ESPN and Sky Sports.
Ahead of their second season of live Premiership rugby coverage, Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “Aviva Premiership Rugby was a great success for BT Sport last season.
“Viewing figures were very strong and we have had great feedback on our live coverage and live studio show Rugby Tonight.
“We look forward to building on this and adding the new European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup to our offering for rugby fans.”
For more information about BT Sport and its rugby union coverage, visit btsport.com.
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