European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), European rugby union’s governing body and international club competition organizer, has announced UK pay-TV sports broadcaster Premier Sports as the official network in the country of its top-tier Champions Cup and secondary Challenge Cup competitions.
The three-year deal, which also covers the Republic of Ireland, will see Premier Sports air all 63 Champions Cup matches per season through to the end of the 2026-27 campaign.
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For the Challenge Cup, meanwhile, Premier Sports will broadcast two fixtures per round in the pool stage, two round of 16 games, before broadcasting all of the competition’s quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final.
This deal puts an end to free-to-air (FTA) coverage of top-tier EPCR action in the UK, for the next cycle.
Last season (2023-24), although Champions Cup action was primarily shown in the UK by TNT Sports, games were also available via the S4C and ITV FTA networks.
In terms of Premier Sports, meanwhile, that network did actually show games from that competition in over 20 Asian countries, across both 2022-23 and 2023-24.
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By GlobalDataThe first rounds of the 2024-25 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup will kick off between December 6 and 8 this year, with this year's editions both set to run through late May.
In securing the rights to EPCR’s two top competitions, Premier Sports (which acquired its UK business back from European broadcaster Viaplay late last year) cements its position as a major rugby union rightsholder in the UK.
The network also holds the rights to France’s top-tier Top14 competition as well as the United Rugby Championship international competition (through to 2025), and with the capture of EPCR rights, it has also announced its intention to start a 24/7 rugby broadcast channel.
Speaking on the announcement, Premier Sports founding managing director Mickey O’Rourke stated: “Our exciting new TV partnership with EPCR and the marquee offering of all 63 Champions Cup games live in the UK and Ireland, complements our existing URC and TOP14 coverage and shows our innovation, ambition, and growth as a broadcaster.
“[Premier Sports will broadcast] 80 top European rugby fixtures, 151 URC games across five rugby nations and 110 TOP14 games live – making Premier Sports the destination for any rugby fan – and we will be driving significant investment into raising the profile of EPCR’s competitions to new and existing audiences.”
Alongside its portfolio of rugby union rights, Premier Sports is also the UK broadcaster of a number of soccer competitions such as Spain’s top-tier LaLiga, and the Coppa Italia and German Pokal knockout competitions.
North American ice hockey’s NHL and US stock car racing’s Nascar are also broadcast in the UK by the Ireland-based network.
