Sky Sports has secured a new four-year deal for exclusive live coverage of European Rugby.
Sky Sports continue their award winning rugby coverage
Sky Sports has won a new four-year deal for exclusive live coverage of European Rugby.
A new agreement with the ERC, gives
Sky Sports at least 50 live games a season from two European competitions.
From the Heineken Cup,
Sky Sports will offer up to eight live matches per round from the Pool stages plus all Quarter-Finals, both Semis and the Final. In addition, there will be live coverage from every round of the Challenge Cup plus both semi-Finals and the Final.
Derek McGrath, Chief Executive of the ERC, said; "Over the past six seasons
Sky Sports have helped to bring the Heineken Cup to the next level in the UK and Ireland, through their significant investment in the game and their innovative, comprehensive and world class coverage of the tournament.
"The Heineken Cup is now firmly established as Europe's premier club rugby tournament and we look forward to continuing that journey with
Sky Sports as the tournament enhances its global appeal.
"The new agreement also offers an important boost to the European Challenge Cup tournament guaranteeing an invaluable promotional platform for the tournament and participating clubs," McGrath added.
Vic Wakeling, managing director for
Sky Sports, said: "The Heineken Cup is a huge success; a great example of the growing strength of club rugby in the northern hemisphere and it plays to packed houses everywhere. In a hectic period of contract renewals this just had to be our priority."
This is the third deal for live rugby rights secured in a month and follows Sky's recent deals with the RFU and Premier Rugby to guarantee the best line up of live rugby for the next five years.
Last month, Sky and the RFU announced a new 5-year deal which gave Sky all England's autumn and summer internationals and Churchill Cup internationals.
The live RFU agreement also covers Barbarians matches, the Anglo-Welsh Cup, National League games, the Varsity Match, the County Championship Final, Women's World Cup in 2010 and international sevens tournaments.
Sky Sports and Premier Rugby announced also announced a new 3-year deal which gives
Sky Sports 26 live Guinness Premiership matches a season from 2010-11 to 2012-13.
Vic Wakeling continued; "It all adds up to more than 130 live matches per season on
Sky Sports; good quality live rugby every weekend throughout the season and a lot more during the summer months."
Sky Sports now holds live rights to:
ENGLAND INTERNATIONALS - All England matches, outside the Six Nations, exclusively live, including autumn internationals at Twickenham, World Cup warm-ups and all away matches on summer tours to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa until 2015.
EUROPEAN COMPETITION - Exclusive live coverage of the Heineken Cup and the Challenge Cup with the current deal lasting until the end of 2009/10 and the new three-year deal starting in 2010/11. There are also highlights from every match in the competition.
PREMIER LEAGUE - Live matches from the Guinness Premiership until the end of the 2012/13 season with 33 live matches per season until the end of 2009-10 and 26 live games per season from 2010/11.
MORE LIVE MATCHES - exclusive live coverage of the Barclays Churchill Cup, the Barbarians, the 2010 Women's World Cup Finals, England internationals at U-18 and U-20 level, the IRB World Sevens and Middlesex Sevens, County Championship Finals and the Varsity match, and rights to the RFU's proposed new competitions; the Anglo-Welsh Cup and Anglo-Welsh Trophy and the National Clubs Championship.
