The Six Nations gets underway on January 31 – but it could be about to move away from terrestrial TV.
Currently the annual tournament is broadcast on the BBC and ITV, but this year marks the last of the current TV deal, giving fans without a subscription sports package the chance to watch some of rugby union’s top stars in action. However RugbyPass reports that a new deal with TNT, formerly BT Sport and now owned by Discovery, believed to be worth £100million – £10m more than the joint ITV/BBC deal – is close to being agreed.
Under the current agreement, the BBC holds the rights to all of Scotland’s home matches at Murrayfield, as well as all of Wales’ home games. ITV broadcasts matches in England, Ireland, France and Italy. Games in the tournament draw around 3 to 4.5m viewers in the UK every year, but with budgets being slashed at the broadcasters, they could now face losing out to subscription rivals.
Outgoing BBC director of sport Barbara Slater said in November last year that the corporation would no longer be able to afford to keep the Six Nations. She told MPs: “We need a well-funded BBC if we are going to be able to continue to afford sports rights. Sports rights in the UK have more than doubled in the past decade and the BBC’s income in real terms has gone down by 30 percent. It is incredibly difficult for the BBC to maintain, across a range of sports, the expectations of those governing bodies.”
According to a report in The Rugby Paper, fears are mounting within the BBC that they could be “frozen out” of showing future tournaments. A BBC executive involved in previous discussions told the publication: “There is now a real risk the BBC will be frozen out.
“The likelihood of the BBC and ITV being given the go-ahead to renew the current deal is fading. They (the BBC) have been forced to make so many budgetary cuts they are in no position to pay still more for the Six Nations. That would leave ITV in a tricky position. Their clear priority is to cover England’s matches. A few years ago, they would have been keen on Wales, but, in their current floundering state, they aren’t box office anymore.”
If the new TV deal with TNT was agreed, it is most likely to offer fans a hybrid of subscription and free-to-air live coverage, with ITV likely to continue holding the rights for some matches throughout the tournament – with England games likely to be their priority.
That is likely to spark concern over a lack of action for Scotland fans who don’t subscribe, with the national football team’s move to paywall services – first Sky Sports and then Viaplay – sparking an angry reaction, and leading to calls for matches to be moved to free-to-air TV. Green MSP Gillian McKay led the campaign, saying: “When Scotland games are free-to-view they become bigger events for families across our country.
“Our results at the Euro Championships may have been disappointing, but the games brought people together, including large numbers who wouldn’t normally watch or consider themselves fans cheering the team on. We lose that opportunity for unity when we put up barriers.”