BT Sport and Premiership Rugby have announced the renewal of their longstanding partnership that will see the pay-TV broadcaster continue as the home of live Gallagher Premiership Rugby in the UK for the next four years.
BT Sport subscribers will continue to be able to watch up to 80 live games – 69 Gallagher Premiership matches and 11 from the Premiership Rugby Cup – every season throughout the deal, reportedly worth £110 million, all the way through to the end of the 2023/2024 season.
The new deal will extend BT Sport’s live coverage with Premiership Rugby beyond a decade, having taken over the rights from ESPN and Sky Sports in 2013.
News of the three-season extension between the two parties comes after recent reports in The Times suggested that Premiership Rugby had turned down an offer from BT, with the channel’s on-air pundits even being informed they could potentially lose the rights at the end of its current deal.
However, bridges appear to have been quickly rebuilt since those reports emerged with BT and Premiership Rugby celebrating the successful conclusion of negotiations.
Commenting on the new deal, Andy Haworth, managing director, BT Sport said:
“Today’s announcement is great news for rugby fans as BT Sport remains the home of Gallagher Premiership Rugby in the UK.
“This has been an extremely difficult year for sport, this is a partnership that extends beyond the TV screen, and we hope this agreement helps to give Rugby clubs in the UK some certainty for the future in these difficult times.
“We will continue to play our part in bringing the best TV coverage of top flight club rugby to our viewers whilst they are not able to attend live sport.”
Darren Childs, Chief Executive of Premiership Rugby added:
“BT Sport have been incredibly supportive partners of Premiership Rugby since they showed their first live match in 2013. This year we have innovated together, and in bringing all the season’s games to fans through a difficult period for live sports. We are pleased we have reached an agreement to extend our partnership through to 2024.”
Alongside English Premiership action, BT Sport is also the principal live broadcaster of the two elite European rugby union competitions – the Heineken Champions Cup and the European Challenge Cup – until at least 2022.
A separate package for free-to-air Premiership Rugby rights, currently held by Channel 5, for the next four-season cycle is expected to be announced soon.
Channel 5 currently airs weekly free-to-air highlights, as well as five live matches per season, a deal which expires at the end of the 2020/21 season.
For a full list of all forthcoming major rugby union matches on the box, visit SOTB’s dedicated rugby union on TV listings page.
