British & Irish Lions stars playing in the United Rugby Championship, Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup are set to feature on a new 24/7 rugby channel launching next season.
Premier Sports has renewed its rights to show all 151 URC games live in the UK, with 131 fixtures exclusive to their platforms.
That means the likes of 2021 tourists Bundee Aki (Connacht), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) and Tadhg Beirne (Munster) will continue to be on show week in, week out, along with 2025 hopefuls including Jac Morgan (Ospreys), Dan Sheehan (Leinster) and Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors).
The new 24/7 rugby channel, Premier Sports Rugby, is launching across Sky, Amazon Prime, and the Premier Sports streaming service from the 2025/26 season.
The broadcaster will also continue to show the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, which will mean the chance to also catch English clubs in those competitions and witness Lions heroes like Maro Itoje (Saracens), Finn Russell (Bath Rugby) and Tom Curry (Sale Sharks) strut their stuff.
In the Republic of Ireland, Premier Sports has secured exclusive rights to one Irish provincial match per round (21 games annually), as well as full live coverage of all Irish provinces and every game in the URC Play-Offs and Final.
A package of free-to-air rights in the UK is expected to be confirmed separately.
TG4 (a founding broadcaster of the league) will continue as the exclusive Free-to-Air broadcaster of the URC in Ireland, with a deal in place to show a minimum of 26 games per season. This includes select Quarter-Final and Semi-Final games and Grand Finals in 2025, 2027, and 2029. The Irish-language broadcaster will also air 16 additional live games featuring non-Irish teams each season.
CEO of Premier Sports, Richard Sweeney, said: “We are very proud to extend our partnership with BKT URC and to enter into our third consecutive agreement with one of the most exciting leagues in world rugby supported by passionate club rugby fans across Scotland, Ireland, Wales, South Africa and Italy.
“The diversity, competitiveness and quality of rugby on show each weekend in the BKT URC is exceptional and it’s been an exciting journey to have been on over the past seven years and great to see how the Championship has made huge strides forward with rugby audiences reaching record levels.”
