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3rd November 2008

By Francis Baron CEO RFU

I am pleased to be able to report that we have today reached agreement with Sky Sports on the terms of a new five year agreement covering all England and RFU properties. As Members will recall, under clauses 155 and 156 of the new RFU/PRL agreement signed last year, the TV rights of the RFU properties and PRL properties were separated with each entity being solely responsible for the sale of its own TV rights. PRL put its own TV rights out to tender sometime ago.

The new agreement will commence in full in 2010/11 although certain elements will start in 2009/10. It will expire at the end of the 2014/15 season. The rights fee payable by Sky to the RFU over the five years will be £85.5m compared to the fee under the current five year contract of £52.9m – an increase of 62%. This is a very satisfactory outcome in the current economic climate and gives the RFU certainty of this important revenue stream for the next seven years.

Importantly the new agreement will greatly extend television coverage of rugby union in England below the Premiership. Under the new agreement Sky will provide coverage of the following:

· England autumn internationals and RWC Warm Up matches

· Barbarians matches

· England Saxons, U20 and U18 matches

· The Churchill Cup

· IRB World Series Sevens

· Women’s RWC 2010

· National Division One/The Championship (if/when established)

· New Anglo-Welsh Cup (if/when established)

· Varsity Match

· Army & Navy match

· Daily Mail Schools Cup

· County Championships

· England Counties XV

· National Championships at levels 4 to 6 (if/when established)

· Middlesex Sevens.

I will provide further detail at the Council meeting on the 14 November, but I thought Members would like a ‘heads up’ on this important deal straightaway.

Francis Baron

And this is how Sky Sports reported the deal:

Sky Sports has won a new five-year deal for live England Rugby from the RFU.Under the agreement, which starts in 2010, all England matches played at home or overseas - outside the RBS 6 Nations and Rugby World Cup - will be exclusively live on Sky Sports.
It gives Sky Sports more live rugby, including international, domestic, women's and youth matches than ever before and it will take the relationship between the RFU and Sky Sports into an 18th year with an extended range of rights:
ENGLAND: All England home matches outside the RBS 6 Nations exclusively live, including the Autumn Investec Challenge series at Twickenham and Rugby World Cup warm-up matches, plus all away matches, including summer tours to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa over the five-year period.
OTHER INTERNATIONALS: Exclusively live coverage of England Saxons matches, including the Barclays Churchill Cup and Barbarians games, England Under- 20s matches, England Under 18s matches and the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup in England.
MORE MATCHES: Starting in 2010-11 there will also be coverage of the County Championship finals , the England Counties XV, the Varsity Match, the Army v Navy match, the IRB World Sevens Series and the Middlesex Sevens.
PROPOSED NEW COMPETITIONS: Sky will also have live match coverage and highlights rights to the RFU's proposed new competitions currently under discussion - the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the Anglo-Welsh Trophy, the Championship (previously National League One) and the National Clubs Championship - which are expected to commence by 2010/11.
The deal includes online rights; live matches will be simulcast on Sky Sports channels on Sky Player - the online TV service.
Announcing the new deal, RFU Chief Executive Francis Baron said: "We are delighted to have agreed terms with Sky Sports on a new five-year deal, thereby extending our long standing and successful partnership with them.
"We are particularly pleased that this new agreement extends to coverage of rugby union to the National Divisions and below. It also provides a solid base to our future revenue streams and certainty to our investment programmes."
Vic Wakeling, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "This deal means that we have top-class international rugby through to the end of the 2014-15 season.
"They will be exciting years for England under Martin Johnson, and we are delighted to be a part of it. We have internationals at all levels - from Under-18s and Saxons, through to the senior team - and we hope to see some outstanding talent coming through."
Sky's Rugby Union line-up includes live coverage of international, European and domestic competition with the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup, the Guinness Premiership and, at international level, England's Autumn Internationals, the Tri-Nations and next summer's British & Irish Lions Tour to South Africa.
England were first shown live on Sky Sports in November 1997 with Clive Woodward's first match as Head Coach, against Australia at Twickenham. Coverage of the next match, when England ended the All Blacks record winning streak, secured a BAFTA for Sky Sports.
The pioneering coverage has seen the introduction of high definition, Hi Motion replays, interactivity, and new camera technologies and positions. Live match coverage is supported by regular reports on Sky Sports News, while the UK's leading commercial sports website, skysports.com, provides news, a live score centre and video content.
Click here for live rugby on Sky Sports

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