Welcome to the Rugby Broadcast Report, a weekly newsletter covering the weekend’s televised rugby action and the latest developments in rugby media rights.
After a record-breaking weekend for PREM Rugby (more on that below), the first free-to-air fixture of the season sees Leicester take on the league leaders Bath on Saturday (KO: 3:05pm).
In the URC, Leinster v Munster is the standout fixture, with the Irish sides going to battle at Croke Park on Saturday evening (KO:5:15pm). Both sides have already released their starting sides, with Sam Prendergast up against Jack Crowley at out-half.
There are plenty of other fixtures to look forward to, including action from the Top 14, Champ, Pro D2, Super Cup, NPC, Super Rugby Cymru, the Rugby Europe Conference and the Interprovincial Series.
Irish and UK kick-off and broadcast details for all televised games are listed below.*
Fixture of the weekend (admittedly biased)
URC: Leinster v Munster
Kick-off: Saturday, 5:15pm (Irish & UK time)
TV: Premier Sports 1 & Online / TG4 / NOW / URC TV
Verdict: Leinster by 3
Quote of the week
Sports broadcast rights are often just filling up schedule space. Whereas actually what we want to create is a whole universe around it, which takes you as deep as you want to go into it – the players, the legends, the culture of the town, what it’s like on a match day – Tim Cocker
In an interview with the 42, FR-UK's Tim Cocker discussed his plans for the YouTube channel and the journey so far. What’s clear from the interview is that Cocker doesn’t want FR-UK to simply broadcast Pro D2 games – he wants to create additional content that gives fans a deeper insight into the league’s culture. This is a refreshing approach and ultimately means that fans will get more content for free. This will increase the awareness of the Pro D2 outside France and will potentially attract more viewers.
The broadcast number
42% – the increase in the viewership audience for Derby Weekend in this season’s PREM compared to October’s Derby Weekend (Round 4) in 2024/25.
Rugby media rights news
This season’s PREM continues to deliver from a viewership point of view. The PREM revealed this week that total audiences on TNT Sports have increased 29% year-on-year, with Round 2 recording the highest ever Round 2 TV audience and Derby Weekend up 42%. PREM subscrivers on Discovery+ are up 23% and there has been a 17% rise in existing subscribers tuning in and a 23% increase in total viewing hours year-on-year.
S4C and Six Nations have signed a new 4-year broadcast deal, which includes coverage of all Wales matches in the Men’s & U20 Six Nations and extended highlights of every Wales Women’s Six Nations game.
Canal+ revealed that last weekend’s rematch of the 2025 final between Toulouse and Bordeaux achieved the highest viewership on Canal+ in 8 years in the regular season, with a peak audience of 1.1 million.
Broadcast details for Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series fixtures have been released. Virgin Media will show Ireland’s opening fixture against the All Blacks, while the remaining fixtures will be shown on RTÉ. TNT Sports will show all fixtures live in both Ireland and the UK.
French free-to-air broadcaster TF1 has secured the broadcast rights to the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 and has also picked up the rights to the 2026 & 2028 Nations Championship, the new international tournament starting next year. In Issue 12 of the Rugby Broadcast Report, I highlighted that under a new agreement with TF1, Netflix will broadcast TF1’s linear channel and on-demand content from summer 2026 in France. This likely means that the 2027 World Cup and the Nations Championship will be streamed on Netflix in France.
As mentioned above Tim Cocker and FR-UK revealed in an interview with the 42 that the broadcaster may bid for the rights to the Top 14 in the coming years.
Six Nations Rugby have announced that L’Équipe will broadcast every match of the 2026 U20 Men’s Six Nations in France, offering both digital and broadcast access. It was also confirmed that over 6.3 million fans tuned into the 2025 U20s Six Nations in 2025 (globally).
Leinster A’s home fixtures in this year’s Interprovincial Series will be streamed on Leinster Rugby Plus.
SANZAAR has unveiled its 2026-2030 rugby calendar, which confirms that the Rugby Championship will not be played in 2026 or 2030, with various international multi-week tours played in the August-September window instead. Now that there is clarity in terms of the calendar, Sky may renew its SANZAAR TV rights soon.
Here’s your full TV guide for this weekend’s action:
Thursday 16 October
7:30pm – Ebbw Vale v Llandovery (Super Rugby Cymru) – S4C Clic / YouTube
8:00pm – Vannes v Oyonnax (Pro D2) – YouTube
Friday 17 October
7:15am – Otago v Bay of Plenty (NPC) – Sky Sports + / NOW
7:45pm – Nottingham v Caldy (Champ) – Clubber TV
7:45pm – Richmond v Ealing Trailfinders (Champ) – Clubber TV
7:45pm – Worcester Warriors v Ampthill (Champ) – Clubber TV
7:45pm – Gloucester v Bristol (PREM) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
7:45pm – Newcastle v Northampton (PREM) – TNT Sports Extra / Discovery+ / Unavailable on NOW
7:45pm – Dragons v Cardiff (URC) – S4C / BBC iPlayer / YouTube / Premier Sports Rugby & Online / URC TV
7:45pm – Connacht v Bulls (URC) – TG4 / Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW / URC TV
7:45pm – Edinburgh v Benetton (URC) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW / URC TV
Saturday 18 October
7:15am – Canterbury v Hawke’s Bay (NPC) – Sky Sports + / NOW
12:00pm – Leinster A v Munster A (Interprovincial Series) – Leinster Rugby Plus
12:00pm – Delta v Castilla Y Leon Iberians (Super Cup) – Rugby Europe TV / RugbyPass TV
12:45pm – Lions v Scarlets (URC) – TG4 / Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW / URC TV
1:00pm – Norway v Luxembourg (Rugby Europe Conference) – Rugby Europe TV
1:00pm – Finland v Estonia (Rugby Europe Conference) – Rugby Europe TV
1:30pm – Bayonne v Clermont (Top 14) – Premier Sports Rugby & Online / Unavailable live in ROI
2:30pm – Romanian Wolves v Bohemia Rugby Warriors (Super Cup) – Rugby Europe TV / RugbyPass TV
2:30pm – Cornish Pirates v Doncaster (Champ) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Bedford Blues v Hartpury RFC (Champ) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Cambridge v London Scottish (Champ) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Chinnor v Coventry (Champ) – Clubber TV
3:00pm – Sharks v Ulster (URC) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW / URC TV
3:05pm – Leicester v Bath (PREM) – ITV4 & ITVX / TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
3:35pm – Montpellier v Lyon (Top 14) – Premier Sports Rugby & Online / Unavailable live in ROI
5:00pm – Brussels Devils v Lusitanos (Super Cup) – Rugby Europe TV / RugbyPass TV
5:15pm – Leinster v Munster (URC) – TG4 / Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW / URC TV
5:30pm – Saracens v Sale (PREM) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
7:45pm – Ospreys v Glasgow (URC) – Premier Sports 1 & Online / NOW / URC TV
7:45pm – Zebre v Stormers (URC) – Premier Sports Rugby & Online / URC TV
8:00pm (Coverage starts at 8:15pm) – Pau v Toulouse (Top 14) – Premier Sports 2 & Online / NOW
Sunday 19 October
3:00pm – Exeter v Harlequins (PREM) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
8:05pm – Toulon v Racing 92 (Top 14) – Premier Sports Rugby & Online / Unavailable live in ROI
Useful links (all free)
YouTube (Pro D2)
YouTube (URC – UK only)
Clubber TV (Free coverage of Chinnor v Coventry only)
RugbyPass TV (RE Super Cup)
Rugby Europe TV (RE Conference & Super Cup)
Final thoughts
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*TV guide subject to change. The website version of this newsletter will be updated if required.