Rugby: BT Sport extends its broadcast rights to the European cups in the UK for 2018-2022

The pay-TV group BT Sport will be extending its broadcast rights, valid for the UK and Ireland, to the European rugby cups for the 2018-2022 period, announced the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) on 04/07/2017. The deal would be worth more than €50m, according to British media.

BT Sport and Sky (via its pay-TV channel Sky Sports) are the broadcasters in the UK and Ireland of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup for the 2014-2018 period since the agreement signed on 10/04/2016. They would jointly pay out approximately £40m (€45.5m on 04/07/2017) over the period.

"EPCR has also reserved the rights for free-to-air coverage in the UK and Ireland, allowing EPCR to meet its key objective of taking its matches to a larger audience and will take those rights to market at a later date. It comes after a boost in revenue was announced in France for the same period, with an option for increased free-to-air coverage," said EPCR.

• EPCR launched the tender for the broadcast rights to the European rugby cups in the UK and Ireland for the 2018-2022 period on 16/04/2017.

"The interest that…