BBC and ITV have signed a six-year deal that will see the Six Nations Championship remain on terrestrial television, with ITV set to broadcast Ireland’s home games. The deal is set to pave the way for RTÉ to continue their broadcast of the games in Ireland.
The deal, which will run from 2016, will see the BBC broadcast home matches involving Scotland, Wales and France while ITV will transmit the home matches of England and Italy, as well as Ireland’s games.
Under the new deal the broadcaster that does not televise the last match of a Six Nations weekend will transmit a Sunday highlights show rounding up all the action from the weekend.
The Six Nations Committee opened up the bidding process to satellite companies for the first time but Sky Sports and BT Sport never materialised showed little interest in either a single or joint approach.
No figure was released by the Six Nations Committee, but it is believed to be in the region of €70 million per annum.
Reacting to the deal, Six Nations Council chairman Bill Beaumont said: “Both the BBC and ITV are committed partners of rugby, ITV with their coverage of the Rugby World Cup and the BBC with their long history of covering the RBS 6 Nations.
“We are excited to be working with them both to continue to develop the interest in the Championship and to ultimately grow this wonderful game for future generations to enjoy, either as a spectator, player or volunteer.
