New home for Autumn internationals broadcast as Amazon lose rights – report
England number eight Ben Earl and Springboks captain Siya Kolisi.
Amazon Prime won’t be broadcasting the 2024 and 2025 Autumn internationals in the United Kingdom, according to reports.
The streaming service have broadcasted the November internationals for the past three years, including the Autumn Nations Cup during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
However, it is reported that they have not entered the bidding process for the final two November international windows before the new Nations Championship competition comes into play in 2026.
TNT Sport closing in
According to a report by Mail Sport, TNT Sports are close to securing a two-year contract for the Autumn internationals and are set to broadcast this year’s games.
The mouth-watering fixture list will include England tackling the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies at Twickenham this November.
The entire fixture list is yet to be confirmed by all the unions, but Ireland and France are also set to take on New Zealand, with the former tackling Springboks for a third time in November after two Tests in South Africa in July.
A successful bid from TNT Sports would further cement their place as the pre-eminent rugby broadcaster in the UK as they also currently have the rights for the Premiership, which they are in talks to extend for another three years. TNT Sports also currently hold the rights for the Investec Champions Cup.
Future of the Six Nations broadcast
The report adds that the Six Nations unions plan to sell the TV rights for the new Nations Championship in the same process as the Six Nations auction from 2026.
There is a chance that the Six Nations will no longer be available on a free-to-air broadcaster from 2026 onwards after the UK government rejected calls for it to be added to the “crown jewels” list of sports events which must be offered for live free-to-air broadcast.
The Six Nations and the Nations Championship could still both end up on different broadcasters as BBC Sport and ITV, who currently share the live rights for the Six Nations, are expected to make strong bids for the latter tournament when the tender is issued.