The Rugby Broadcast Report Issue 23: Rugby TV Guide & Media Rights News – ITV To Broadcast Nations Championship
Never miss a game
Welcome to the Rugby Broadcast Report, a weekly newsletter covering the weekend’s televised rugby action and the latest developments in rugby media rights. I apologise for the delay with this week’s newsletter – it has been a busy week but the next issue will be out on Thursday.
European Cup rugby returns this weekend as the opening round of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup kicked-off on Friday night.
ITV has injected some much needed competition into the rugby media rights landscape with a surprise bid for the new Nations Championship. Champ Rugby is set to debut on RugbyPass TV, while the PREM fails to prevent churn on TNT Sports – more on these stories below.
Apart from European Cup rugby, viewers can enjoy live action from the Super Cup, PWR, the AIL, Rugby Europe Conference and the Champ across the weekend.
Irish and UK kick-off and broadcast details for all televised games are listed below.*
Fixture of the weekend (admittedly biased)
Former Munster head coach Johann van Graan has named a strong Bath side to take on Clayton McMillan’s Munster team, which will be without Irish international Jack Crowley due to injury.
Champions Cup: Bath v Munster
Kick-off: 8:00pm, Saturday (Ireland & UK time)
TV: Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW
Venue: The Rec, Bath
Verdict: Bath by 5
Quote of the week
If you are launching a new tournament that a fair section of supporters are deeply cynical about then what better way to foster plenty of goodwill than by putting the Nations Championship on terrestrial television?
This week’s quote is courtesy of rugby journalist Daniel Schofield, who wrote an excellent piece in The Telegraph on ITV’s bid for the rights to the new biennial Nations Championship, which starts in 2026.
The broadcast number
£80-90 million – the reported value of ITV’s bid for the TV rights to the Nations Championship.
Rugby media rights news
By far the biggest news of the week has been the revelation that ITV is set to acquire the broadcast rights for the inaugural Nations Championship. Various media outlets have reported that the deal is worth between £80 to £90 million for the rights to the tournament in 2026 and 2028.
According to The Telegraph, a free-to-air broadcaster will likely secure the rights in Ireland.
As noted in previous issues of this newsletter, Sky Italia will televise the news tournament in Italy in 2026, while French FTA broadcaster TF1 will broadcast the tournament in 2026 and 2028.
TNT Sports were expected to secure the rights but it is understood that the value of ITV’s bid was deemed too high for TNT to submit a counter bid.
As highlighted in a previous newsletter, New Zealand Rugby and Sky New Zealand signed a new broadcast agreement earlier this year that is worth less than the previous deal. However, The Post reported this week that ITV’s new deal (and others) and for the Nations Championship will ensure that New Zealand Rugby will still earn more in rights revenue next season, as the Nations Championship broadcast revenues are pooled together and shared by the participating teams. It is worth highlighting, though, that Japan and Fiji, as invited guests, will receive a particlation fee only.
Too many casual rugby fans cancelled immediately after the tournament, with TNT’s year-round offering of the Prem not deemed attractive enough to retain them
The quote above is from Matt Hughes’ piece in The Guardian this week. According to the article, TNT used the autumn internationals for the past two years to test whether the rights would lead to an increase in subscribers and the reality is that they simply did not. This is a particularly interesting point when considering the reasons that TNT failed to secure the rights to the Champions Cup rights, which was that the broadcaster wanted to focus on the international game – has this decision backfired?
In other news, Champ Rugby is coming to RugbyPass TV for the first time this weekend – fans can watch Bedford Blues take on Cambridge at 3pm on Saturday. This coverage of England’s second division should increase the league’s exposure both in England and globally, although it has not been confirmed whether more Champ games will be shown or if this is a once-off agreement.
Earlier this year RugbyPass TV quietly launched as a 24/7 stream on RugbyPass’s YouTube channel. However, the stream was recently taken down and it remains to be seen whether a full launch is planned or whether the soft-launch was for testing purposes.
Major League Rugby has revealed the league’s format for the upcoming season, which will feature only six teams. Each team will play 10 regular season matches and the top four teams will then earn a spot in the playoffs. The 2026 schedule will be released in the coming weeks. As a reminder, Premier Sports holds the broadcast rights in the UK and Ireland.
The IRFU has announced that the an Ireland club XV will play a Scotland club XV on 13 February 2026, with live coverage on IrishRugby+.
Sky Pacific has secured the Super Rugby Pacific broadcast rights in Fiji and the Pacific from 2026 to 2028. Sky Pacific will show all 77 regular season matches, every Fijian Drua match, the qualifying finals, both semi-finals and the final.
Here’s your full TV guide for this weekend’s action:
Friday 5 December
4:00pm – Castilla Y Leon Iberians v Bohemia Rugby Warriors (Super Cup) – Rugby Europe TV / RugbyPass TV
7:30pm – Lansdowne v UCD (AIL 1A) – YouTube
7:45pm – Chinnor v Nottingham (Champ) – Clubber TV
8:00pm – Sale v Glasgow (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
8:00pm – Bayonne v Stormers (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports Rugby & Online / Unavailable live in Ireland
8:00pm – Ulster v Racing 92 (Challenge Cup) – Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW
Saturday 6 December
1:00pm – Saracens v Clermont (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
1:00pm – Lions v Benetton (Challenge Cup) – epcrugby.tv Only
1:00pm – Stade Français v Cardiff (Challenge Cup) – S4C & Clic / BBC iPlayer / epcrugby.tv
1:00pm – Exeter Chiefs Women v Bristol Bears Women (PWR) – YouTube
2:00pm – Luxembourg v Estonia (Rugby Europe Conference) – Rugby Europe TV
2:30pm – Trinity v Highfield (AIL) – YouTube
2:30pm – Hartpury RFC v Doncaster (Championship) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Bedford Blues v Cambridge (Championship) – Clubber TV / RugbyPass TV
3:00pm – Coventry v London Scottish (Championship) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Ealing Trailfinders v Caldy (Championship) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Richmond v Ampthill (Championship) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Worcester Warriors v Cornish Pirates (Championship) – Clubber TV
3:05pm – Gloucester-Hartpury Women v Trailfinders Women (PWR) – TNT Sports 1 / discovery+ / NOW
3:15pm – Black Lion v Montpellier (Challenge Cup) – epcrugby.tv Only
3:15pm – Bulls v Bordeaux (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
4:00pm – Romanian Wolves v Lusitanos (Super Cup) – Rugby Europe TV / RugbyPass TV
5:05pm – Leicester Tigers Women v Harlequins Women (PWR) – YouTube
5:30pm – Lyon v Newcastle (Challenge Cup) – epcrugby.tv Only
5:30pm – La Rochelle v Leicester (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
5:30pm – Leinster v Harlequins (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW
6:30pm – Delta v Brussels Devils (Super Cup) – Rugby Europe TV / RugbyPass TV
8:00pm – Zebre v Montauban (Challenge Cup) – epcrugby.tv Only
8:00pm – Scarlets v Bristol (Champions Cup) – S4C & Clic / BBC iPlayer / Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
8:00pm – Bath v Munster (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW
Sunday 7 December
1:00pm – Pau v Northampton (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
1:00pm – Perpignan v Dragons (Challenge Cup) – epcrugby.tv Only
3:00pm – Saracens Women v Loughborough Lightning (PWR) – BBC iPlayer
3:15pm – Ospreys v Connacht (Challenge Cup) – Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW
3:15pm – Toulouse v Sharks (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports Rugby & Online / Unavailable live in Ireland
3:15pm – Gloucester v Castres (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
5:30pm – Edinburgh v Toulon (Champions Cup) – Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW
5:30pm – Exeter v Cheetahs (Challenge Cup) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
Useful links
YouTube (Pro D2)
YouTube (URC – UK only)
Clubber TV (Champ)
YouTube (PWR)
YouTube (Super Rugby Cymru)
Final thoughts
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*TV guide subject to change. The website version of this newsletter will be updated if required.