Pay-TV heavyweight Sky Italia has secured domestic rights to the United Rugby Championship (URC) through the 2024-25 season.
Sky's coverage will include every Benetton and Zebre Parma match shown live, with the two clubs being the only Italian teams in the league.
Other selected matches will also screened by Sky Italia every weekend.
Warner Bros. Discovery previously held rights to URC in Italy, showing the league’s 2022-23 season through the Eurosport 2 linear TV channel, as well as via the Discovery+ OTT streaming platform.
Martin Anayi, United Rugby Championship chief executive, said: “Partnering with Sky Italia for the first time shows the appeal of rugby and the United Rugby Championship to new audiences.
“Since the introduction of the South African teams in 2021, our league has become more exciting and unpredictable which is exactly what a major broadcaster like Sky Italia expects for its viewers.
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By GlobalData“This two-year deal offers both the URC and Sky Italia the chance to build on the broadcaster’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup and focus on a growth strategy to drive more interest in the sport.”
Marzio Innocenti, president of the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), added: “We have a 10-year collaboration with Sky Sports and now the decision to include the URC matches of our franchises in its schedule for the next two seasons is very exciting.”
Sky Italia will also broadcast every match of the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France from September 8 to October 28.
The broadcaster also recently snapped up rights until 2025 to a slate of top-tier national team competitions.
These include the 2024 and 2025 Six Nations pan-European tournament in which Italy takes part (men’s and women’s editions), and the 2024 and 2025 Autumn Nations Series.
The Under-20 Six Nations will also be covered by the broadcaster.
Sky Italia has become the ninth broadcaster of the URC in its core territories alongside BBC Wales, BBC Northern Ireland, S4C, and Viaplay (UK), RTE, TG4, Premier Sports (Ireland), and SuperSport (South Africa).
Internationally, FloSports provides live and exclusive coverage in the US with fans in selected territories across the rest of the world able to access the league on the URC.tv streaming service.
