Rugby Union

New Zealand telco Spark has acquired rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup, along with a host of other tournaments staged by the sport’s world governing body, World Rugby.

European Professional Club Rugby has agreed four media-rights deals in recent weeks which it hopes will increase the exposure of its competitions.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has agreed a content partnership with US satellite-television provider DirecTV that will grant the Top 14 domestic rugby union league exposure in the US.

New US rugby union competition Major League Rugby has completed its distribution package for its maiden season by agreeing a partnership with the AT&T Sports Networks division of US telco AT&T.

French commercial broadcaster TF1 has renewed an agreement for Rugby World Cup rights ahead of next year’s edition of the national team tournament in Japan.

In the latest interactive monthly data report, TV Sports Markets analyses the media-rights landscape in rugby union.

European Professional Club Rugby, the governing body for club rugby union in Europe, has awarded the RDA agency global distribution rights for its Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions.

Sky New Zealand is expected to lose rights to the Rugby World Cup after the pay-television broadcaster today (Wednesday) announced that it is not the preferred bidder for the contract to the 2019 tournament in Japan.

The media-rights value of the Six Nations is dominated by those nations that compete in the tournament: England; France; Ireland; Italy; Scotland and Wales. International rights represent about 5.3 per cent of the global media-rights value in 2018.

UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 has acquired rights to the European Champions Cup rugby union tournament.

Major League Rugby, a new rugby union competition in the US, has agreed a rights distribution deal with sports broadcaster ESPN.

The NBC Sports division of US media company NBCUniversal has bolstered its rugby union portfolio by agreeing a rights deal with European Professional Club Rugby, the governing body for club rugby union in Europe.

Irish commercial broadcaster TV3 has acquired rights for rugby union’s European Champions Cup, allowing viewers to watch free-to-air coverage of the competition for the first time since 2006.

The Pro14 cross-border rugby union league has said it is concluding talks over its next set of rights in the UK and Ireland, as the Welsh division of public-service broadcaster the BBC said it has been outbid in its effort to retain live coverage.

The annual value of Six Nations media rights in Asia has been cut almost in half following a new deal with OTT service RugbyPass.

OTT platform RugbyPass has extended its deal for exclusive coverage of the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens event across its 23 Asian territories.