Premier Sports sees "crazy" rugby viewership growth
Premier Sports boss on viewership, new TV rights and the UK's first dedicated rugby channel
Premier Sports Chief Executive Richard Sweeney has spoken to Rugby Broadcast about new rights and the advent of its 24/7 rugby channel — Premier Sports Rugby. The new channel is now available on the Premier Sports streaming platform and will launch on Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Virgin Media, and Amazon in the UK. With new rights from Japan and the Americas, Premier Sports will now show over 400 live rugby games each season from competitions across 11 rugby nations. All live sports content is available from just £11.99/month.
Japan Rugby League One and MLR
When I spoke with Richard Sweeney, one thing was immediately clear: he’s passionate about rugby — and about making Premier Sports the true home of the sport.
People have been crying out for this. People have been asking: when can we watch more rugby, different types of rugby from around the world? We're the facilitator for those requests.
Premier Sports has secured rights to both Japan Rugby League One and Major League Rugby (MLR) in the UK and Ireland in a two-year deal, with the option to extend.
Sweeney noted that these rights weren’t acquired on a whim. The decision to broadcast League One and MLR followed a measured negotiation process. Both leagues, he said, were drawn to the idea of showcasing their competitions on a dedicated rugby channel — alongside other top-tier tournaments — helping to grow visibility and engage new audiences.
It’s really opening a window that gives an opportunity… to watch something different and exciting and really build on that community.
Each week, Premier Sports will show at least two matches per round from each league — with the option to show additional games. The deal also includes all knockout games in both competitions.
The new agreement with League One means that RugbyPass TV will no longer broadcast League One in Ireland or the UK. However, viewers across the world (apart from Japan, the UK, Ireland, Sub-Saharan Africa, Taiwan and Malaysia) can continue to watch one game per round plus the playoff games for free on World Rugby owned RugbyPass TV.
MLR fans can still watch all games not shown by Premier Sports on The Rugby Network.
Watch highlights of the interview below:
A new dedicated rugby channel
The rights to League One and MLR are part of a bigger ambition: turning Premier Sports into the home of rugby union.
In January 2025, the broadcaster quietly launched Premier Sports Rugby — a dedicated, 24/7 rugby channel in the UK. Along with new rights, this is something Sweeney said that “fans are crying out for.”
Sweeney sees this as a key part of the broadcaster’s ambition for growing the rugby community. The concept of a dedicated rugby channel is of course similar to Sky’s dedicated F1 channels, which has been hugely successful for Sky.
Premier Sports Rugby brings together major competitions — like the Champions Cup — and less popular tournaments from around the globe, which previously didn’t have the same exposure on a shared platform that has an existing rugby fanbase.
The broadcaster now boasts an impressive number of games:
We’re delivering 400 to 500 live rugby games across the season. You don’t really get that anywhere else.
Sweeney observed that the broadcaster is taking a digital-first approach. As such, the Premier Sports app is launching on Amazon and Sky’s streaming platforms Sky Glass and Sky Stream later this year and work is well underway to expand to more platforms. The objective is to make the app available on as many platforms as possible.
The Irish broadcaster is also actively exploring other content to add to the new channel, such as podcasts and other forms of media.
What else can we have on the channel? We’re quite open.
What about Ireland?
Right now, Premier Sports Rugby is only available in the UK. Sweeney said that long term he would like to see the channel launched in Ireland but for now, the focus is on growing the channel in the UK.
It was highlighted, however, that League One and MLR content will be shown on Premier Sports 1 & 2 and will not be restricted to Premier Sports Rugby only. For example, last weekend the MLR fixture between Anthem Rugby and the New England Free Jacks was shown live on Premier Sports 1.
Sweeney also confirmed that the Premier Sports app is not being launched in Ireland. Irish viewers can access Premier Sports 1 & 2 via the Sports Extra package on Sky, NOW, Virgin Media, and Vodafone.
Rugby viewership is soaring
In an interview with City AM in December 2024, Premier Sports reported that it met its viewership targets during the opening weekend of the Champions Cup, with notable engagement driven by Friday and Sunday night games. At the time Sweeney highlighted strong performances in matches like Bath v La Rochelle and Toulouse v Ulster.
Fast forward a number of months, and Sweeney says the audience growth has been remarkable this season:
Top 14, URC and EPCR have grown significantly this year… our viewing has gone up — it’s crazy percentage wise.
While no exact figures were disclosed, Sweeney noted a clear surge in viewership.
Premiership fans are signing up and tuning into more than just the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.
English Premiership fans have really come on board — they’re watching Top 14, and they’re watching URC. The feedback we’re getting is they will watch League One and MLR.
“Watch this space”
Premier Sports is now the home of 400 to 500 live rugby games a season and Sweeney highlighted that the broadcaster now has the capacity to broadcast 10 to 12 games simultaneously. Premier Sports’ rugby portfolio now consists of:
URC
Top 14
Champions Cup
Challenge Cup
Leinster Schools Cup
Major League Rugby
Japan Rugby League One
It is clear from the conversation that Premier Sports will continue to build its portfolio of rugby rights and maintain its existing deals — it was recently announced that the broadcaster has extended its partnership with the URC for another four years.
There is a real rugby community out there. And what we have to do is ask: what else would they like on our channel? We’re quite open… watch this space for what’s next.
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