England’s match against New Zealand will be shown on TNT Sports in November after the broadcaster became the new home of England and Ireland’s autumn rugby internationals.
Distribution to free streamers is yet to be confirmed and will likely consist of featured packs.
Fixtures were previously broadcast by Amazon Prime but will now be moved to TNT and the Discovery+ app, which will show every match.
Fixtures for 21 games this autumn include England and Ireland taking on the All Blacks and Scotland hosting South Africa.
Rugby’s autumn matches have historically been broadcast on pay TV; Long-standing broadcaster Sky Sports, which preceded Amazon Prime, took over broadcasting fixtures during the pandemic for £20 million, starting with the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup.
TNT also holds broadcast rights to the Gallagher Premiership and Investec Champions Cup and recently extended its deal with Premiership Rugby for a further two years; All 93 matches will be shown by TNT next season, with Premiership Women’s Rugby and the HSBC SVNS Series also broadcast.
Tom Harrison, CEO of Six Nations Rugby, which organizes the fixtures, said: “Welcoming TNT Sports to our international rugby broadcast family for the first time is a significant moment given our commitment to providing fans with the best possible experience.”
England’s summer tests will continue to be broadcast by Sky Sports, whose deal with Sanzaar (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby) runs until 2025. Sky will also broadcast the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia next year.
Rights to the Six Nations continue to be split between the BBC and ITV, but the competition is no longer part of the UK government’s ‘Crown Jewels’ list of sporting events that must be made available to free-to-air broadcasters. Olympics, Wimbledon, football and rugby World Cups. It was moved to ‘Group B’ earlier this year, meaning it can be streamed by a subscription service that allows highlights to be shown for free.
TNT is in a strong position and that’s good news for fans
TNT’s move to take over international rights in the autumn means there is a truly dominant broadcaster for rugby union in England for the first time since Sky in the 2010s. TNT already held the rights to three domestic competitions and recently extended its Premiership deal and sevens. But incorporating fall internationals takes its scope to a new level. Unlike Amazon’s takeover a few years ago, viewers will be familiar with the broadcasters, experts and presentation. This seems like a good thing. Given Sky’s reduced broadcast coverage in recent years, it is now very interesting that next year’s deal with Sanzaar, which also includes summer tours to the southern hemisphere and, most importantly, the British and Irish Lions tour, will be concluded soon. Could TNT also make a move for this by adding the Lions, summer tours, Rugby Championship and Super Rugby to its portfolio? It seems possible.
Costs need to be addressed. Fans in England will happily put all their money into one rugby viewing basket, and those currently paying £30.99 a month for TNT (perhaps less tied up with other broadband packages or phone deals) can earn more watching the Premiership and Champions Cup They will get it. It would be a good thing if they could cancel the Prime Video service to get rugby from a single provider and save a few pounds each month.
As for fans in England and Ireland who don’t follow English club matches and just want to watch international competitions? This deal is not very good. Prime Video costs £5.99 per month on its own, or £8.99 per month if included in the full Amazon bundle; A very manageable cost. TNT costs £30.99 per month, which is significantly higher even though it also offers a few different sports (Premier League and Champions League football, for example).
While Amazon’s coverage was good, if not very memorable – I’ll admit to forgetting that it was broadcasting Rugby World Cup warm-up matches at one point – its best work in rugby has been seen in documentaries about the sport, No Woman No Trial, Everybody’s Game, Mud, Sweat and Tears: Premiership Rugby to name a few. While trying to backtrack some of the recent match broadcasts before writing this, I noticed that the games were no longer available on Prime Video. There was certainly no lack of investment in promoting the product – bringing in familiar presenters and pundits from the BBC and ITV, even TNT – but four years isn’t long enough to make a serious dent in the rugby broadcasting scene. The core of TNT’s on-air talent and off-air production team have been together for an era dating back to the days of ESPN and Sky’s dominant era before that.
Televised coverage of sport as a whole in the UK and Ireland looks set to plateau somewhat until the Nations Championship kicks off in 2026, so don’t forget that TNT’s new two-season deal with Premiership Rugby is short. or Six Nations being classified as one of the ‘Crown Jewel’ free TV events. For now, TNT is in a strong position and it will be positive for regular rugby viewers in England to get more out of its investment. To relax? Time to dig deeper into the wallet.