Indian pay-television channel Sony Six has acquired rights for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Under the deal, the Sony Six and Sony Kix channels will show exclusive coverage in India of all 48 matches to 400m homes. The deal includes daily highlights of the international rugby union tournament.
Rugby participation in India has grown by more than 33 per cent since the 2011 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in New Zealand. The 2015 edition will be in England.
“The global value and impact of the sport is growing at a consistent clip and with that it’s our primary aim to raise our viewer experience to the next level through this exciting sports property,” Prasana Krishnan, Sony Six’s business head, said.
The World Rugby governing body’s head of commercial, broadcast and marketing, Murray Barnett, added that rights deals had been secured to take coverage of the Rugby World Cup to the largest audience in its history.