Heavyweight pay-TV broadcaster Sky Italia will continue its coverage of European rugby union’s Six Nations competition after renewing its rights deal for another year.
The deal, struck with the Six Nations Rugby body, was announced today and will see the broadcaster air the annual men’s Six Nations and inaugural Nations Championship, as well as the men’s U20 Six Nations and the Women’s Six Nations.
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Sky Italia has provided Six Nations coverage across the country since 2021, last renewing its deal in 2023 to run through 2025.
The men's Six Nations features the national teams of England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Italy, with Ireland having won this year's tournament. Next year’s edition is scheduled to run between February 5 and March 14, 2026.
The Nations Championship, meanwhile, is World Rugby’s new 12-team tournament that will pit the top teams of northern and southern hemisphere rugby against each other every two years.
Next year’s inaugural edition in July will feature the Six Nations teams taking on four Rugby Championship sides – South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina (SANZAAR), with Fiji and Japan also representing the southern hemisphere.
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By GlobalDataThe rights add to Sky Italia’s burgeoning rugby portfolio that also includes the United Rugby Championship and France’s top-tier Top 14.
The rights renewal only covers the 2026 season, despite Six Nations Rugby securing rights deals in the other participating countries covering the entire 2026-29 cycle.
Earlier this year, Six Nations Rugby renewed its new rights deals with UK public service broadcaster the BBC and commercial network ITV, ensuring coverage in England, Wales, and Scotland for the 2026-29 cycle.
That deal was followed up with Welsh-language public broadcaster S4C, also renewing its deal through 2029.
In June, the body announced public service broadcaster France Télévisions had retained rights to Six Nations action for the whole cycle, while Irish public service broadcaster RTE and commercial network Virgin Media kept their rights for the same period.
