Tournament is currently shown by the BBC and ITV

Six Nations Rugby 1

TNT Sports has said that any bid for the rights to the Six Nations would be, “very challenging,” due to its links to free-to-air TV.

The tournament is currently shown by the BBC and ITV, with the 2025 edition getting underway this week. However, RugbyPass has reported that from 2026 it could be shown by TNT Sports. 

It is unclear whether, in this scenario, the pay-TV provider would be the exclusive broadcaster, or if it would work in partnership with a free-to-air counterpart - as it will be doing for the FA Cup, with the BBC, from the 2025/26 football season, and also does with the BBC and EBU for the Olympics.

According to the report, the deal, which is yet to be signed, would be worth £100 million - £10 million more than the BBC and ITV paid for the rights from 2022-2025.

However, TNT Sports has responded to the rumours, with a TNT Sports spokesperson informing Broadcast Sport: “While we think the Six Nations is the best international rugby competition in the world, its important partnership with free-to-air television across the UK and Ireland, but particularly in markets like Wales and Ireland, would make our involvement very challenging.”

TNT Sports already shows the Autumn Nations Series, which is also organised by Six Nations Rugby, picking up the rights in April 2024. It also broadcasts every game from the Premiership, which has enjoyed growing viewership since the increase in the number of games it broadcasts.

Th Six Nations isn’t included in the main group of the UK government’s listed events, which have to be broadcast free-to-air. It is part of a second group, which permits live coverage being behind a paywall as long as there are free-to-air highlights.

Speaking before her departure from the role, former BBC Sport director Barbara Slater told the culture, media and sport select committee in November 2023 that, “Sports rights in the UK have more than doubled in the past decade. BBC’s income in real terms has gone down 30%. It is incredibly difficult for the BBC to maintain, across a range of sports, the expectations of those governing bodies.”

She added on the Six Nations specifically, “With the Six Nations, like anything, we will have to assess the affordability at the time. Because it is very difficult for the BBC, on that trajectory of income, to continue to afford everything that we have. The truth is we’re probably not going to be the highest bidder, and it will come down to individual governing bodies as to how they balance that reach and revenue.”