The Rugby Football Union and Sky Sports extended their partnership with a new five-year broadcast deal in which Sky Sports will become a top-level RFU partner with a range of partnerships for the first time. The deal will begin in July and include:
- Exclusively live coverage of England's autumn QBE Int'ls from Twickenham, QBE Int'ls before the Rugby World Cup in '15 and '19, plus the annual England spring fixture.
- At least two live England Women's matches a season, and additional England U20, U18 and England Saxons fixtures.
- A minimum of 11 live Greene King IPA Championship matches.
- An in-match clips package, which will enable near live match updates to be delivered across RFU & Sky Sports' websites and social media channels (RFU).
SKY UPS RUGBY COVERAGE: The deal is the 25th major rights agreement secured by Sky Sports in '14. Sky will broadcast more than 360 live rugby union matches from the int'l, European and domestic game in the broadcaster's biggest ever season in terms of rugby coverage. Sky will also broadcast more Autumn Internationals than ever before (
SBD Global).
