Rugby Union

Canal Plus and Eurosport are battling it out over the pay-television rights to French rugby union’s Pro D2, with the existing rights fee set to treble.

Sky Italia’s acquisition last week of the rights to this year’s Rugby World Cup will give the broadcaster a second high-profile, low-cost sports event around which it can build a marketing campaign in late summer.

Media rights clips from February 12 to 25

Italian pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia has extended its association with the Rugby World Cup by acquiring rights to the 2015 edition of the national team tournament.

The Australian Rugby Union is in the final stages of sealing a new broadcast rights deal which will help tackle the financial problems the sport has been suffering, according to chief executive Bill Pulver.

Gareth Davies, chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union, has urged UK public-service broadcaster the BBC to retain rights to the Six Nations national rugby union team tournament in order to stop coverage switching to UK pay-television channels.

World Rugby, the global governing body for rugby union, has teamed up with production company Engage Sports Media (ESM) to launch a new magazine programme.

Sky New Zealand has launched a new service that will allow customers to watch premium sports rights online without signing up to its broadcast pay-television offering.

Pay-television broadcaster Sky New Zealand has secured broadcast rights for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby last week secured an increase of 4.2 per cent in the value of the media rights of the top-tier domestic league, the Top 14, despite limited competition.

Interview with Emmanuel Eschalier, chief executive officer at the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, on the league’s new Top 14 domestic deal with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus.

Media rights clips from January 15 to January 28

The Six Nations may consider offers from UK pay-television broadcasters for its next rights deal, according to the annual national team rugby union championship’s chief executive, John Feehan.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has been awarded rights by the Ligue National de Rugby (LNR) for the domestic rugby union Top 14 tournament for four seasons, from 2015-16 to 2018-19.

Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has acquired rights in France for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in a sublicensing deal with commercial broadcaster TF1, according to French newspaper Le Figaro.

Six broadcasters have made offers to the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the French professional rugby union league, for the rights to the top-tier Top 14 and second-tier Pro D2 divisions, according to L’Equipe.

World Rugby, the global governing body for rugby union, has criticised the Fijian government for its handling of a recent dispute over media rights for the Sevens World Series.

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the French professional rugby union league, has launched the sales process for rights to the top-tier Top 14 and second-tier Pro D2 divisions.