TNT Sports, the UK pay-TV giant owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), has agreed a long-term renewal of its domestic rights deal for English rugby union’s Premiership Rugby and Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR).
The new five-year agreement for the men’s Premiership, which covers both the UK and Ireland, will run through the 2030-31 season.
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The deal replicates the existing agreement between the two parties – a two-year deal covering the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons – in that all 93 matches from each Premiership Rugby campaign, including the Play-Offs and Final, will be broadcast live on TNT Sports’ linear channels or its Discovery+ streaming platform.
Select matches from the Premiership Rugby Cup will also be shown on TNT Sports.
In addition, TNT Sports or Discovery+ will show at least one match from every PWR round each season – including both semi-finals and final – until the end of the 2028-29 season. The broadcaster will air the top pick in every round.
TNT Sports, which transitioned from BT Sport as part of a joint venture between WBD and telecoms heavyweight BT in September 2022, has been the primary broadcast partner of Premiership Rugby since 2013.
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By GlobalDataAndrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, has said: “There is no doubt the quality of both competitions continues to improve each season and we are convinced the changes being mooted by Premiership Rugby, together with the strength of our production and on-air team, that we can continue to grow viewership and attendance over the next five seasons.”
Simon Massie-Taylor, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, added: “Our recent partnership with TNT Sports has helped drive record audiences and attract a million new fans to the Premiership, alongside drawing record crowds and a second sold-out final in a row.
“Our clubs have worked hard to establish the Premiership as a compelling competition with high-quality entertaining rugby, and TNT Sports has embraced the challenge to continue to innovate to help grow the sport, and its output has been first class.
“This extended partnership allows both parties to invest in the long-term growth of the Premiership, and we are very excited about the future.”
This season, TNT Sports claims to have attracted record numbers of fans through its Premiership Rugby and PWR coverage.
After 13 rounds of the ongoing 2024-25 season, Premiership Rugby average audiences were up 11% from 2023-24 and 24% compared to the 2022-23 season.
PWR audiences, meanwhile, rose 156% following November’s Autumn Nation Series. March’s PWR Grand Final, which saw holders Gloucester-Hartpury overcome Saracens, drove a 36% increase in average audience from the 2024 final, contributing to an 86% year-on-year increase in season average audiences on TNT Sports.
As well as Premiership Rugby and PWR, TNT Sports’ portfolio of rugby rights includes the Autumn Nations Series and the SVNS Series.
TNT Sports is continuing to invest in sports rights despite posting a substantial loss of £187.5 million ($250.1 million) – pre-tax – in the 12 months up to July 31, 2024.
Last year’s accounts for the network revealed a sizeable increase in losses from the 2023 financial figures, when TNT Sports lost £73.4 million pre-tax.
