Six Nations organisers have refused to rule out the possibility of the competition going behind a £300m paywall in 2022 after the next television rights bids are lodged this month.
This year’s Six Nations, which ends on 14 March, is shown for free on BBC and ITV. The games have not been behind a paywall for two decades.
The Six Nations chief executive officer, Benjamin Morel, said a report that a decision had been taken to move all the matches off free-to-air TV was “highly premature” but the door has been left open to such an outcome.
The Rugby Paper said Sky Sports had become favourites to land a deal worth £300m and bring the Six Nations off terrestrial television “until 2024 at the earliest”.
The BBC and ITV combined to outbid Sky when the last TV deal was negotiated, securing a deal said to be worth £90m. Six Nations matches have been on terrestrial television since England’s home games were shown exclusively on Sky from 1997 to 2000.
However, no joint bids are being allowed in the next round of negotiations.
“By ruling out any joint bids it’s almost as if the Six Nations are clearing the way for Sky,” the Rugby Paper quotes an industry source as saying. “There is a very real danger that they will be prepared to sacrifice the big audiences on BBC and ITV for more money.”
In response on Sunday a Six Nations spokesperson was quoted as saying: “Six Nations are in the process of seeking bids for various sets of media rights but these are not due for some time.
“All of this is highly premature and speculative as no proposals have yet been received by any interested party. We would not rule anything out at this stage and the unions will collectively review and make a decision based on the nature of the offers received.”
It was reported last week that CVC Capital Partners, which is a minority shareholder in the Premiership and the Pro 14 and is reportedly weighing up an approach to the southern hemisphere partnership Sanzaar as well, would bundle together television rights for competitions around the world into a single package for broadcasters.