Sky Sports has held on to its grip over live rights to England’s rugby union internationals after agreeing a new five-year deal with the RFU running through to the end of the decade.
The new agreement strengthens one of the longest-running TV partnerships in sport, taking it into a third decade, and Sky Sports will become a top level partner with the Rugby Football Union (RFU), with a range of additional partnership rights for the first time.
Beginning in July 2015 and running until the end of the 2019/20 campaign, Sky’s renewal with the RFU is the 25th major rights agreement Sky Sports has secured this year alone.
The deal includes exclusively live coverage of England’s Autumn Internationals from Twickenham, each of England’s warm-up internationals ahead of the Rugby World Cups in 2015 and 2019, plus the annual England spring fixture, though England’s home Six Nations clashes will remain free-to-air on BBC TV until at least 2017.
At least two live England Women’s matches a season will be shown live on Sky Sports, as well as additional England Under-20, U18 and England Saxons fixtures.
There will also be a minimum of 11 live matches from the Greene King IPA Championship, the league tier below the top-flight Aviva Premiership.
In addition to extensive TV rights, an in-match clips package has also been made available for the first time, which will enable fans to get near live match updates to be delivered across RFU and Sky Sports’ websites and social media channels.
Sophie Goldschmidt, the RFU’s chief commercial and marketing officer, said: “We have a long term, trusted relationship with Sky Sports and are delighted that it is continuing.
“They have an acknowledge relationship as a premier worldwide broadcaster, who always look to take sport to new levels both editorially and in terms of innovation.
“We are looking forward to not only showcasing our England teams in the best possible way, but also to exploring opportunities to support the grassroots, so the whole game benefits further.”
Sky Sports has been the exclusive live broadcaster of all England’s home international rugby union matches since the autumn of 1997, excluding Six Nations games which have been covered by the BBC since 2003.
Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, added: “This new deal builds on our already successful partnership with the RFU.
“It offers our viewers even more live England rugby from the men’s, women’s and age grade game, and includes additional rights to enable us to support the game from the grassroots up to the elite level.
“At Sky Sports, we share the RFU’s aims to grow the sport before and after next year’s World Cup by investing across the game, and innovating with our coverage to reach new audiences.”
The RFU deal strengthens Sky Sport’s rugby union schedule, which already features over 360 live matches this season including Autumn Internationals from England, Ireland, France and Italy, European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup action.
There is also extensive coverage of the Top 14, Guinness PRO12, IRB Sevens World Series and women’s rugby.
Elsewhere, BT Sport has live rights to Aviva Premiership and European Champions Cup fixtures, the BBC will continue to cover every Six Nations match until 2017, while next autumn’s Rugby World Cup hosted in England will be broadcast exclusively live on ITV.
The BBC currently has a deal to screen terrestrial highlights of England men’s autumn internationals, though there has yet to be confirmation as to whether this arrangement will continue during the next rights cycle.
#RugbyUnion: @SkySportsRugby to continue screening live @EnglandRugby until 2019/20 season: http://t.co/B4tU2g8GgR pic.twitter.com/b4Vam45iZ1
— Sport On The Box (@SportOnTheBox) October 30, 2014
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