BeIN Sports, the international sports broadcaster, has secured exclusive rights to several major international rugby competitions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The deal will see BeIN’s Tod TV streaming platform air competitions such as the men’s and women’s 2025 Six Nations European national teams competition, and the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia.
The agreement also includes the ongoing Autumn Nations Series and English rugby union’s top-tier Premiership (with that aspect unveiled earlier this month).
BeIN launched its Tod subscription-based OTT platform in early 2022.
The service has a premium portfolio of sports rights which features the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, soccer’s UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga, German Bundesliga, and French Ligue 1, tennis’ four major grand slams, Davis Cup and ATP Tour, basketball’s NBA, the MotoGP motorcycling series, and Major League Baseball.
Last year, Six Nations action was covered in MENA by Premier Sports, while that broadcaster also aired the last Lions tour, to South Africa three years ago.
Meanwhile, L’Equipe, the French free-to-air digital terrestrial channel, has picked up rights to SVNS, the elite international rugby sevens tour.
The L'Équipe channel will broadcast the key matches in each stage featuring the French men's and women's teams, while the L'Équipe live digital platform will offer all the matches live.
Coverage will begin on November 30.
SVNS recently announced its 2024-25 calendar, headlined by the addition of Los Angeles, United States, to its list of host venues.
The season will begin in Dubai, UAE (November 30-December 1), before moving on to Cape Town, South Africa (December 7-8), Perth, Australia (January 24-26, 2025), Vancouver, Canada (February 21-13), and Hong Kong (March 28-30).
