Rugby World Cup matches, such as Saturday's classic between Ireland and South Africa, may not be shown on free-to-air television during the next edition of the tournament Photo: Getty Images/Lionel Khan
The Rugby World Cup will not necessarily remain completely free to broadcast in the UK amid sweeping changes to how it is hosted and broadcast.
World Rugby will soon go to market with rights to the next two editions of its flagship tournament — and its women's equivalent — which have been produced by ITV since 1991.
And while the governing body has committed to ensuring that the Women's World Cup in England will be completely free to broadcast in the UK in two years, its chief executive said no other decisions had been made.
Alan Gilpin told Telegraph Sport that the sports broadcast landscape has now changed significantly from when rights to the 2017-2023 FIFA World Cups were sold, as streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix have penetrated the market.
Unlike its football counterparts, only the finals of rugby union's biggest tournaments are required by law to be broadcast free-to-air in the UK, and World Rugby has previously resisted attempts by Sky Sports to snatch the rights.
Gilpin said his priority was World Cup coverage as possible to a wider audience, which will help increase interest in the game, but cautioned that this must be balanced by generating the revenue necessary to benefit from it.
He said: “The starting point will always be the question: “Can we make this fantastic competition – in the case of the men's and women's World Cups – accessible to as wide an audience as possible?”
“A secondary question to this is the question: “Can we do this in a way that generates the revenue we need to continue investing in the sport?” So, like any sports event owner, he finds that balance — and this is where the balance needs to be found — in different markets.
“So no, we definitely won't look at '27 in isolation and we definitely won't look at the UK in isolation. We will see this as part of a wider range of opportunities.
“A brilliant, expanded Women's Rugby World Cup with 16 teams and eight venues in 25, on a much larger scale than we have ever done at Women's World Cups earlier, and which should be available, especially in the UK and domestic market. , free, for the largest audience. This is our short-term goal.”
Gilpin said World Rugby would consider a pay-TV offer to show matches from the 2027 men's tournament onwards «provided they, as partners, make a minimum commitment to making the content available».
But he added: “There is no doubt that free-to-air television and partners like ITV, who have been great partners for us, are part of that future. Because we want to reach audiences who wouldn't otherwise pay for a rugby subscription.»
This includes free coverage of World Cup matches on our own RugbyPass TV platform, which launched last month and allows countries where there is no broadcast agreement to watch live action.
The current tournament is the last to outsource its running to a host union, with World Rugby taking over the entire operation from 2025.
RugbyPass TV is part of that, and Gilpin said it could eventually evolve into a full-fledged direct-to-consumer platform.
“At this point, we think it's just important . that we use the platform and invest in it to reach the widest possible audience,” he said. “Once we start doing this and we have a deeper relationship with these fans, I think they will tell us when they are willing to pay for this type of content in the future. And we are not going to rush into this to the detriment of our growing audience.”
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