TNT Sports, the UK pay-TV giant owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), will remain the domestic home of English rugby union’s Premiership Rugby after it agreed a renewed two-year-minimum deal with the league today.
As part of the extended agreement, which covers both the UK and Ireland for at least 2024-25 and 2025-26, TNT will show every game of the competition from the 2024-25 campaign.
The new deal with Premiership Rugby will see all 93 matches that season – including the Premiership Rugby play-offs and final – broadcast live on the TNT Sports linear channels and Discovery+ streaming service (except Ireland).
TNT Sports will also continue to broadcast select games from the Premiership Rugby Cup.
The broadcaster, which rebranded from BT Sport as part of a joint venture between WBD and BT in September 2022, has broadcast Premiership Rugby since the channel’s launch in 2013.
The existing three-year deal between the two parties was due to expire at the end of this season. That contract is worth around £110 million ($139.4 million).
TNT is understood to have been seeking a discount for the new contract as it felt it was overpaying in the current deal after the league was reduced to a 10-club competition.
The pay-TV operator initially considered demanding a refund due to the reduced value of its rights but instead wanted lower terms on the new deal.
London Irish were suspended from the league in June 2023 after missing a deadline to pay staff and players. The club was then unable to prove it had sufficient finances in place to compete in the 2023-24 season.
The Wasps and Warriors collapsed financially within the first six weeks of the 2022-23 season, leading the RFU governing body to first suspend and then remove them from the league in October 2022.
The broadcaster’s rights negotiations for Premiership Rugby were overseen by Andrew Georgiou, who was appointed as WBD’s head of media business in the UK and Ireland last August.
He also retained his position at WBD Sports Europe, which operates its sports broadcasters Eurosport and TNT Sports.
Georgiou said: “Our new agreement with Premiership Rugby means that, for the very first time, fans will be able to enjoy every single match live throughout the season in one place.
“With every game live, we can provide an even greater stage for the game, its clubs, and the players. We have been broadcasting Premiership Rugby to millions of fans for more than a decade and are excited by the opportunity to go even further through our live broadcasts, programming, and extensive coverage across social and digital platforms.”
Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby chief executive, added: “Millions of fans have helped break viewership records this year as we work together to innovate and bring the game to new audiences.”
TNT Sports further bolstered its rugby portfolio recently by signing a multi-year deal covering England’s newly rebranded Premiership Women’s Rugby.
The company’s rights stable also includes English soccer’s Premier League (which it renewed last year) UEFA’s European club competitions, motorcycling’s MotoGP, mixed martial arts promotion UFC, boxing, and WWE wrestling.
The next rights cycle comes as Premiership Rugby prepares to “relaunch” under a new strategy in the 2024-25 season to bounce back from its off-field issues.
Among several changes, the English top flight will notably create a new sporting commission that will scrutinize the decision-making of clubs while their finances will be monitored by an independent panel. It would be independently chaired and make decisions on behalf of the league.
The league will now focus on securing a new title sponsorship deal as the contract with insurance firm Gallagher is also due to expire at the end of this season.
Last week, meanwhile, US network Fox Sports secured rights to show matches from the remainder of the 2023-24 Premiership Rugby season.
Fox will sub-license 10 live matches from Major League Rugby (MLR), which holds exclusive domestic rights to English rugby union’s top-tier competition.
The season concludes with the 2024 Premiership Rugby final on June 8.
