The Six Nations could be set to vanish from free-to-air TV following a decision made by the Government. BBC and ITV share the rights to broadcast the competition until next year, though the tournament faces an uncertain future beyond that point.
The Government has announced that they had not named the Six Nations in their list of Group A events for 2026, meaning that there is no obligation for a free-to-air channel to purchase the rights for the tournament.
Those included in Group A, which includes the World Cup, the Olympics and Wimbledon, must have live coverage available on free channels, with the ‘crown jewel’ legislation ruling that it is available on reasonable terms.
Instead, the Six Nations will remain in Group B, which means that only secondary coverage – such as highlight reels and overview shows – must be shown on free-to-air TV.
The Government released a statement in response to the Welsh Affairs Committee to outline the decision, which read: “The Government believes that the current list of events works well to deliver the best outcome and that it strikes an appropriate balance and therefore we have no plans to undertake a full review of the list.
“Listing an event in either Group A or B does not guarantee that an event will be broadcast or available free-to-air. Rights holders are not required to sell rights to listed events and broadcasters are not obliged to purchase them or to show the events.
“The legislation sets out to ensure that where live rights to a Group A listed event are made available, they must be offered for purchase by a qualifying service – it does not require that a qualifying service is the final purchaser.”
