Premier Sports enters final year of Champions Cup rights deal as rivals circle

Premier Sports enters the third and final year of its broadcast deal covering the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup in the UK and Ireland, with the future of those rights increasingly uncertain as better-funded rivals eye a return to European club rugby.

The broadcaster’s coverage opens on Friday night at Kingsholm, where Gloucester face defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles in the first Champions Cup fixture of the season. As in previous years, Premier Sports will carry all 63 Champions Cup matches live, alongside selected Challenge Cup pool rounds, the Round of 16, and every match from the quarter-finals onwards.

Premier Sports moved into European rugby in 2024, replacing TNT Sports in a deal reported to be worth around £6m — a significant discount on the £14m offer from TNT that EPCR had originally turned down. The arrangement complemented the broadcaster’s existing rights portfolio, which includes the United Rugby Championship and France’s Top 14, positioning it as a dedicated home for club rugby in the region.

However, EPCR is expected to push for a substantially higher fee when negotiations over the next rights cycle begin. The competitive landscape has shifted since the original deal was struck. The completion of Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery has left TNT Sports’ new ownership with resources to rebuild a sports rights portfolio that has been thinning. TNT will lose UEFA’s Europa League and Conference League to Sky Sports from 2027-28, and also missed out to ITV on the rights to rugby’s inaugural Nations Championship.

Premier Sports can point to audience growth — the broadcaster reported a 27% uplift in reach at the end of last season’s pool stages compared to the same point the year before. But linear and connected TV numbers remain a concern. According to audience measurement body Barb, just 23,000 viewers watched last season’s final between Bordeaux-Bègles and Leinster on Premier Sports via linear or connected TV, a figure that will do little to strengthen the broadcaster’s negotiating position.

With the rights window closing and larger players monitoring the situation, this season may prove to be a pivotal one — both on the pitch and in the boardrooms that decide where European rugby is watched next.