Six Nations accept joint BBC & ITV bid – SCRUM Magazine

There had been fears that subscription channels Sky or BT Sport would secure the rights for the famous Championship when the current deal expires in 2017.

In order to split the amount of matches equally, BBC will air Wales, Scotland and France’s home fixtures, while ITV will play host to England, Ireland and Italy’s home ties.

The television deal for the Six Nations is expected to be announced on Thursday afternoon with the BBC having teamed up with ITV in a bid to keep the tournament on terrestrial television.

Cuts to the BBC’s budget have clearly put its sports output under pressure but Labour’s shadow sports minister Clive Efford yesterday claimed that it would be a “huge mistake” for the Six Nations to be limited to pay TV.

The partnership between BBC and ITV would boost revenue for the Six Nations and avoid the controversy of moving away from terrestrial coverage.

Efford warned of a backlash if there is no coverage on BBC or ITV.

“It’s healthy for sports to have some of their elite events on terrestrial TV and rugby needs to have access to a platform that is accessible to everyone if it wants to grow and inspire the next generation”.

“If the Six Nations were to go to a subscription channel, politicians from all sides will inevitably be calling for the event to be A listed”.

The broadcaster that does not broadcast the last match of a Six Nations weekend will transmit a Sunday highlights show rounding up all the action from the weekend.

This marks the first time that the Six Nations committee has opened the bidding for the competition’s broadcast rights to pay-TV operators – a move geared to increase the value of rugby’s oldest worldwide tournament.

This year’s tournament on the BBC saw audiences rise to their highest level since 2003 when a peak of 9.6m tuned in to watch England v France, and over 24m watched in total.