Guinness Pro14 rugby union will return to BBC screens from 10 November after the corporation secured a deal to broadcast weekly highlights until at least 2021, across its national networks in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Fans in all three countries will be able to watch an hour-long highlights programme on Monday nights following each round of Pro14 fixtures, with coverage of the Welsh regions’ fixtures also featuring on BBC Wales’ flagship Scrum V programme on Sunday evenings.
Additionally, rugby fans across the UK will be able to view the hour-long programme on BBC iPlayer from 7pm on Monday evenings, right through to the play-offs and the Guinness Pro14 final, which will be held in Cardiff on 20 June.
The BBC’s new Pro14 highlights programmes will be broadcast at regular times across the nations, with fans in Wales getting highlights of the regions’ matches at 5pm on Scrum V Sunday and again on Mondays at 11.15pm.
In Northern Ireland, highlights will also be shown on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 11.15pm on Mondays, while the BBC Scotland channel will air their programme on Mondays at 7pm.
Each nation will produce a bespoke programme and focus primarily on their local teams, as well as feature a round-up of the other key fixtures played each week.
The BBC lost broadcasting rights for the Pro14 to pay-TV broadcaster Premier Sports in 2018, with Welsh language channel S4C providing the only free-to-air coverage of the competition since the start of the 2018/19 season, produced by BBC Wales.
The new free-to-air highlights deal, negotiated between the BBC and Premier Sports, required the approval of Pro14, which subsequently extended its “gratitude to Premier Sports for their part in this new partnership and reminds fans that every Guinness Pro14 game can be viewed on Premier Sports live in HD”.
Commenting on the agreement, Dermot Rigley, Pro14 commercial director, said:
“BBC’s return to the Guinness PRO14 is terrific news for our fans and adds yet another committed broadcast partner to our Championship. As a tournament we have set a new standard by ensuring every single game is available live to our viewers in the UK and now with our highlights available to Free-To-Air audiences via BBC, rugby fans will have unprecedented access to the Guinness PRO14.
“There has always been wide-spread interest in our highlights but choosing to work alongside BBC once again allows us to pick up on a relationship that we know will deliver the right result for sports fans.
“The BBC were on hand at our very first Celtic League Final in 2001 and played a part in our journey over the subsequent years, so it is fantastic that they return at a time when the Guinness PRO14 has never been stronger.
“The Guinness PRO14 is on an upward curve thanks to the exciting rugby on the pitch, the significant growth in turnover that has been driven by our commercial team and the vibrancy of our digital platforms. Every season around 300 international players appear in our Championship where the fast-paced rugby is driven by some of the sharpest coaching minds in the game.
“As recently as the summer we saw the power that pay TV and an FTA broadcaster provided for the Cricket World Cup Final – now we will be able to provide more coverage to rugby fans right across the UK which is great news for everyone.”
The new agreement with BBC, which comes six rounds into the 2019/20 season, will be welcomed by supporters without access to Premier Sports, but also by the live rights holder themselves, which took on the commitment to broadcast its own highlights programme after failing to reach a deal with the BBC Nations last season.
Premier Sports’ own chief executive, Richard Sweeney, raised questions over why it was providing highlights programming in an interview with Wales Online, given its main focus is producing live coverage of all 152 matches per season.
The BBC Nations expressed their delight at the Pro14’s returns to its screens. BBC Cymru Wales’s Head of Sport, Geoff Williams said:
“Together with the fascinating Rugby World Cup in Japan and a dramatic challenge at the top of the Conference tables, this is a great time to see the championship highlights return to the BBC. Rugby forms part of our national conversation and we’ll bring all the action to fans across the country.”
Commenting on the arrival of Pro14 highlights to the BBC Scotland channel, Grigor Stirling, sport commissioning executive for BBC Scotland, said:
“We are delighted we’ve secured this agreement to bring the best of the action from PRO14 over the next two seasons. It’s a welcome addition to our wide portfolio of sports on the channel, and we’re sure that rugby fans will enjoy the Championship highlights after each round on our new programme.”
BBC Northern Ireland’s Executive Editor for Sport, Neil Brittain said:
“This is great news for rugby fans. The PRO14 is a fantastic tournament. We have a long history of broadcasting the competition, so I’m delighted that it’s back on BBC Northern Ireland television.
“The new programme will of course include Ulster Rugby games but there will be highlights off all the matches from each round so viewers will get to see some of the world’s best players and best teams every week in the competition. It also really reinforces our commitment to our audiences to bring them the best sporting action – complementing our coverage of Football, GAA and bikes.”
Guinness Pro14 highlights will be broadcast on BBC Two Wales in Scrum V Sunday on 10 November, followed by a further highlights programme at 11.15pm on Monday, 11 November.
BBC Scotland will air its highlights programme on Monday, 11 November at 7pm, while BBC Two Northern Ireland’s programme goes out at 11.15pm.
All programmes will be available to watch on the BBC iPlayer across the UK from 7pm on Mondays.
