Welcome to the Rugby Broadcast Report, a weekly newsletter covering the weekend’s televised rugby action and the latest developments in rugby media rights.
The URC and the renamed PREM are both back this weekend, starting with a Thursday night fixture as Sale host Gloucester.
The sold-out Women’s RWC Final takes place on Saturday while this year’s highly competitive Rugby Championship continues with two exciting fixtures coming as a wounded All Blacks side play Joe Schmidt’s Australia and South Africa take on Argentina.
If that’s not quite enough rugby for you, there's also Top 14, Pro D2, NPC, Super Rugby Cymru, Super Rugby Australia, AIL, and a World Cup qualifier between Chile and Samoa to look forward to.
Irish and UK kick-off and broadcast details for all televised games are listed below.*
Fixture of the weekend (admittedly biased)
Women’s RWC Final: England v Canada
Kick-off: Saturday, 4:00pm IST / BST
TV: BBC1 / iPlayer / RTÉ 2 / Player
Verdict: England by 5
Pro D2 coverage
After successfully bidding for the broadcast rights for the Pro D2 in Ireland and the UK, FR-UK has also started to produce highlights of each round of French rugby’s second division. Check out the Round 4 highlights above.
Quote of the week
The league recorded an 11% increase in total viewership with a cumulative audience of 53 million across the 2024/25 season.
The cumulative audience of 53 million that tuned into the 2024-2025 URC season is even more impressive when compared to the inaugural season, which attracted an audience of 34 million. That figure was a 169% increase on the previous Pro14 and Rainbow Cup campaigns combined. Can the URC continue to build on this momentum going forward with fewer fixtures being shown on free-to-air in both Ireland and the UK?
Rugby media rights news
The URC has launched a new and improved URC TV streaming platform ahead of the 2025-2026 season. RTÉ and the URC had previously partnered together to provide the service, but that agreement ended following the conclusion of the 2024-2025 season. The URC has partnered with Eluvio to provide the enhanced service. Eluvio also works with EPRC to provide the EPCR TV streaming service. Key features of the new platform include:
App available on smart TVs for the first time
Split-screen functionality for watching two games simultaneously
Lower cost for customers in the Republic of Ireland
Improved streaming quality
Unlike previous seasons, URC TV will not stream all fixtures live this season in the Republic of Ireland. Premier Sports will exclusively broadcast one game per round in the Republic of Ireland for the next fours seasons as part of the Irish broadcaster’s new TV deal (full match replays will be available on URC TV 90 minutes after the final whistle).
S4C’s coverage of the URC will continue for at least another two seasons after it was confirmed that the Welsh broadcaster has renewed its parntership with the URC. Coverage of the upcoming season will include 20 live games and 18 deferred broadcasts. In addition, the URC confirmed this week that a new broadcast agreement has been signed with Sky Italia. According to the URC press release, “Sky will showcase Italy’s two clubs week in, week out, alongside some of the league’s biggest festive clashes and the high-stakes Play-Offs”.
Champ Rugby has entered a multi-year streaming partnership with Clubber TV, under which all 182 league games for the 2025-26 season plus the play-offs will be streamed live and will be available on-demand for the first time. Clubber TV is an Irish media company that broadcasts GAA and other sports. Earlier this year Champ Rugby had announced that one game per round would be shown on YouTube, but it is unclear if the new deal with Clubber TV will impact this plan. As part of the new agreement there will be selected fixtures shown on the Clubber TV platform for free.
There will be no free-to-air coverage of the Champions Cup in Ireland for the forseeable future according to an exclusive story by Extra.ie The news follows the confirmation that RTÉ has not renewed its rights to broadcast the URC, with TG4 providing the only free-to-air coverage in Ireland from this season. Premier Sports will exclusively broadcast this season’s Champions Cup, although it is still unclear if ITV will pick up any fixtures in the UK.
The Women’s Rugby World Cup continues to attract impressive viewing figures with the BBC reporting that England v France drew a record-breaking peak audience of 3.3 million across BBC TV and digital platforms, which is the highest figurue for a women’s rugby fixture in the UK.
New Zealand Rugby and Sky NZ have signed a new five year broadcast deal, worth an estimated 85 million NZD (€43m) annually, which is below the previous deal that was worth an estimated 111 million NZD (€55m) annually.
Flosports has picked up the broadcast rights to the URC, PREM Rugby and Top 14 in the United States. The broadcaster will show every fixture from all three tournaments and already holds the media rights to the Champions Cup, Challenge Cup, Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship.
In what has been described as an historic milestone for Spanish rugby, it has been announced that Spanish broadcaster Movistar+ will air fixtures from the top rugby competitions in Spain for the next three years.
Here’s your full TV guide for this weekend’s action:
Thursday 25 September
7:30pm – Bridgend v Aberavon (Super Rugby Cymru) – S4C Clic / YouTube
7:45pm – Sale v Gloucester (PREM) – TNT Sports 3 / Discovery+ / NOW
Friday 26 September
8:10am – Southland v Tasman (NPC Rugby) – Sky Sports Mix / NOW
6:00pm – Stormers v Leinster (URC) – TG4 / Premier Sports 1 / NOW / URC TV
7:45pm – Harlequins v Bath (PREM) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
7:45pm – Newcastle v Saracens (PREM) – TNT Sports Extra / Discovery+ / Unavailable on NOW
8:00pm – Brive v Grenoble (Pro D2) – YouTube
8:05pm – Ulster v Dragons (URC) – Premier Sports 1 / NOW / URC TV
8:05pm – Glasgow v Sharks (URC) – Premier Sports 2 / NOW / URC TV
Saturday 27 September
6:05am – New Zealand v Australia (Rugby Championship) – Sky Sports Main Event & Action / NOW
8:00am – Brumbies v Waratahs (Super Rugby Australia) – YouTube
12:30pm – France Women v New Zealand Women (RWC) – BBC iPlayer / RTÉ Player
1:00pm – Bulls v Ospreys (URC) – Premier Sports 2 / NOW / URC TV
1:30pm – Stade Français v Bordeaux (Top 14) – Premier Sports Rugby / Unavailable live in ROI
3:05pm – Zebre v Edinburgh (URC) – Premier Sports 2 / NOW / URC TV
3:35pm – Racing 92 v Clermont (Top 14) – Premier Sports Rugby / Unavailable live in ROI
4:00pm – England Women v Canada Women (RWC 2025 Final) – BBC1 / BBC iPlayer / RTÉ 2
4:00pm – Nenagh v Old Belvedere (AIL 1A) – Irish Rugby+
4:10pm – South Africa v Argentina (Rugby Championship) – Sky Sports Action & Mix / NOW
5:30pm – Scarlets v Munster (URC) – Premier Sports 1 / NOW /
7:45pm – Connacht v Benetton (URC) – TG4 / Premier Sports 1 / NOW / URC TV
7:45pm – Cardiff v Lions (URC) – S4C / BBC iPlayer / YouTube / Premier Sports 2 & Rugby / NOW / URC TV
8:00pm – Toulouse v Castres (Top 14) – Premier Sports Player Only / Unavailable live in ROI
8:30pm – Chile v Samoa (RWC 2027 Qualifying) – RugbyPass TV
Sunday 28 September
7:30am – Western Force v Reds (Super Rugby Australia) – YouTube
1:00pm – Northampton v Exeter (PREM) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
3:30pm – Bristol v Leicester (PREM) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
8:05pm – Bayonne v Toulon (Top 14) – Premier Sports Rugby / Unavailable live in ROI
Useful links (all free)
Irish Rugby+ (AIL)
RugbyPass TV (RWC 2027 Qualifying)
YouTube (Pro D2)
YouTube (URC)
YouTube (Super Rugby Australia)
YouTube (Super Rugby Cymru)
Final thoughts
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*Information subject to change. Website version of this guide will be updated if required.