ITV poised to win broadcast rights for every England rugby union Test from 2026

ITV is poised to win the rights to broadcast every England rugby union Test from next year after submitting a successful £80m bid for the inaugural Nations Championship.

The terrestrial broadcaster has beaten off a rival bid from TNT Sports to secure a deal that will ensure that all of the home nations matches will be available free-to-air for at least the next three years, in a major boost for the exposure of the sport.

ITV already has a joint £63m deal with the BBC for the Six Nations Championship, with the commercial channel having the rights to every England game and 10 of the 15 matches overall as they are paying a greater share of the bill, and once the contracts are signed will also have exclusive rights for the first two editions of the Nations Championship. The 2027 World Cup in Australia will also be broadcast live on ITV, as it has been since 1991.

The Nations Championship deal gives ITV the right to show every game in the new 12-team competition, which features all the Six Nations and their major southern hemisphere rivals – South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and Japan.

Under a new tournament structure announced last month, the Six Nations will tour the southern hemisphere for three Tests in July, with England beginning their campaign against South Africa in Johannesburg, before playing host in November followed by a final series. As revealed by the Guardian, the first final will be at Twickenham next year before being staged in Qatar in 2028.

TNT had been expected to win the Nations Championship rights, as it has broadcast the autumn Tests for the past three years, and being outbid by a terrestrial station is a major surprise. It has been a torrid few weeks for TNT, who as revealed by the Guardian lost its UK rights to the Champions League to Paramount+ last month and was also outbid by Sky Sports for the Europa League and Uefa Conference League. TNT is broadcasting the Ashes this winter but its coverage from Australia has been widely criticised.

ITV’s winning bid will be regarded as a boost for rugby given the finances involved and the exposure provided by free-to-air. Their live coverage of England v France in the Six Nations last February was watched by a peak of 6 million viewers, compared to around 1 million who watched England’s win against New Zealand on TNT last month, which was ITV’s biggest audience since the 2024 European Championship.

TNT, which has exclusive live rights for the Gallagher Prem, is now expected to attempt to rebrand itself as the home for club rugby in England by reclaiming the Investec Champions Cup from Premier Sports in 2027.