Based on the length and value of recent TV deals, rugby union is in a holding pattern waiting for the start of the new Nations Championship from 2026 before signing longer, potentially more lucrative agreements with broadcasters.
By then, hopefully, what is currently a quite disjointed TV offering will hopefully be more straightforward, because as things stand heading into the 2024-25 season, the new campaign is going to test both your ability to remember all the channel numbers on your service provider but also, more importantly, your finances.
Following Wednesday’s announcement that the Champions Cup is heading to Premier Sports for the next three years, here is where you will now find rugby union coverage this season and how much it will cost from month to month.
First, here is how it will cost consumers to have subscriptions with each service.
TNT Sports – £30.99 per month as a standalone service, £20pm with EE TV or £28pm with Sky
Sky Sports – £24 as an add to Sky TV, £26-£34.99 separately with NOW TV
Premier Sports – £10.99 per month
TV Licence – £14.13 per month (£169.50 per year)
The most expensive options for Sky Sports – NOW TV’s Flexible Month Membership for £34.99 per month – and TNT Sports with a £30.99 Premium Plan through Discovery allow you to cancel at any time rather than being tied into a longer contract with BT or Sky, although that flexibility comes at a cost. Bundling Sky Sports and TNT Sports into a larger TV and broadband package with a provider has historically lowered the price, albeit over longer contractual terms.
September
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Premiership Rugby (TNT), 93 matches per season, expires 2016
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URC (Premier Sports), 151 matches per season, expires 2025
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Top 14 (Premier Sports), 110 matches per season, expiry TBC
Max monthly cost (including monthly average cost of license fee): £56.11
The latest TNT deal for Premiership Rugby, announced earlier this year, is believed to be on reduced terms compared with the previous three-year agreement which ran out in 2024, mainly due to the reduction of Gallagher Premiership clubs from 13 to 10.
Premier Sports was already broadcasting more club rugby matches than any other channel with the URC and Top 14, so the launch of a 24/7 rugby channel, announced in its press release confirming the Champions Cup deal, makes sense.
October
Max monthly cost: £56.11
The second season of Premiership Women’s Rugby on TNT will begin, after a multi-year agreement was announced back in 2014.
November
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Autumn Nations Series (TNT), 21 matches per season, expires 2025
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Premiership Rugby (TNT)
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Premiership Women’s Rugby (TNT)
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URC (Premier Sports)
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Top 14 (Premier Sports)
Max monthly cost: £56.11
TNT to move for the rights to the Autumn Tests, taking them away from Amazon Prime, comes with the price of having to give up the rights to European rugby. It’s an understandable move in terms of viewing figures, given the higher interest in England and Test rugby than any domestic competitions, and as part of a well-established production the Autumn Tests should be a big hit.
December
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Champions Cup and Challenge Cup (Premier Sports), 80 matches per season, expires 2027
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Premiership Rugby (TNT)
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Premiership Women’s Rugby (TNT)
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URC (Premier Sports)
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Top 14 (Premier Sports)
Max monthly cost: £56.11
The debut of Premier Sports’ European coverage, becoming the fifth broadcaster to show the competition in the United Kingdom after ITV (1996-1998), BBC (1999-2003), Sky (2003-2018) and BT Sport/TNT Sports (2016-2024).
January
Max monthly cost: £56.11
February
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Six Nations (BBC/ITV), expires 2025
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Premiership Women’s Rugby (TNT)
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URC (Premier Sports)
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Top 14 (Premier Sports)
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Super Rugby Pacific (Sky), expires 2025
Max monthly cost: £91.10
This is the final year of the current Six Nations TV deal between BBC and ITV, which has been broadcast on free-to-air television dating back to 2003. Reports earlier suggested that an agreement in principle is in place to continue sharing coverage of the men’s and women’s Six Nations.
Sky, the former home for all of your rugby needs in the 2000s, is now left clinging on to action from the southern hemisphere, including England’s recent tour of New Zealand. That deal with Sanzaar expires in 2025.
March
Max monthly cost: £91.10
The Premiership Women’s Rugby final will take place in March, leaving TNT with the Premiership and Champions Cup for the rest of the season.
April
Max monthly cost: £91.10
May
Max monthly cost: £91.10
European coverage on Premier Sports comes to a close with the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals on May 23 and 24 in Cardiff.
June
Max monthly cost: £91.10
Sky’s Lions tour coverage will begin on June 20 with the warm-up fixture against Argentina in Dublin, having shown every tour dating back to 1997. Otherwise there will be finals for the Premiership and URC (both June 14) and Top 14 (June 28).
July
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British and Irish Lions tour (Sky)
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Southern Hemisphere tours (Sky)
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Super Rugby Pacific (Sky)
Max monthly cost: £49.12
Tours for next summer are still to be confirmed but England are expected to play two Tests in Argentina and one in the United States. The Argentina Tests would fall under the Sanzaar agreement.
August
*Telegraph Sport reported back in May that the BBC is poised to win the race to broadcast the Women’s Rugby World Cup ahead of ITV and Channel 4.
Max monthly cost: £49.12
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