BBC fails to reach Pro14 rugby TV deal

Live coverage of regional rugby will end on BBC Two Wales next season after the BBC failed to reach a deal to continue broadcasting Pro14 matches.

Competition organisers are understood to have awarded the UK rights to a pay-TV service, but BBC Wales had hoped to continue broadcasting games in Wales.

It means viewers will no longer be able to watch regional games on free-to-air television in English.

In a statement, BBC Wales said it was disappointed.

"We're proud of our record of covering live Pro14 rugby across television, radio and online and we offered a significantly increased financial bid in order to safeguard these rights on a free-to-air basis for hundreds of thousands of viewers in Wales, and across the UK," it said.

"We know there will be a real disappointment at this outcome among hundreds of thousands of rugby fans who have enjoyed live free-to-air coverage on the BBC over many years."

The broadcaster said it hoped to be able to continue to offer TV highlights on a Sunday evening and would be seeking discussions with tournament organisers.

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Negotiations over Welsh language rights are continuing and S4C added: "We cannot comment on ongoing commercial negotiations."

It is understood that subscription channel Premier Sports TV were part of the bidding process but the Pro14 would not confirm which service had secured the UK rights.

Pro14 Rugby said on its website it had overseen a "highly-competitive tender process" with multiple pay and free-to-air operators across the UK and Republic of Ireland bidding for the broadcast rights.

"Pro14 Rugby is currently concluding negotiations for these rights ahead of the 2018/19 season and will confirm the final position to partners and supporters once the formal agreements are in place," said the statement.

How some of the main live TV sports divide up:

BBC Sport: Rugby: Six Nations (until 2021) Pro14 (BBC Wales until 2018); Rugby League: Challenge Cup; Football: Emirates FA Cup, Fifa World Cup; Olympic Games; Tennis: Wimbledon (until 2024); Snooker: World, UK and Masters; Golf: Four majors. Cricket: ECB T20 (from 2020)

ITV Sport: Rugby: Six Nations (until 2021), Rugby World Cup; Football: Fifa World Cup; Cycling: Tour de France; Tennis: French Open.

Sky Sports: Rugby: European Champions Cup; Pro14 (30 matches); England tests (not Six Nations), New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Ireland (autumn) internationals; England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland tour matches; Rugby League: SuperLeague. Football: Premier League (126 matches per season); EFL and EFL Cup; Cricket: International and domestic; Motorsport: F1 Golf: US Open, Open, Masters and Ryder Cup

BT Sport: Rugby: Aviva Premiership Rugby (69 matches per season), European Champions and Challenge Cup. Football: Premier League (42 games) Uefa Champions League and the Uefa Europa League; Emirates FA Cup (24 matches), Vanarama National League; Scottish Premier League (30 matches); Cricket: Australian home matches. Boxing: BoxNation and UFC events. Motor Sport: MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3

Premier Sports: Rugby League: Championship (Toronto Wolfpack matches). Ice Hockey: NHL live games, Motorsport: Nascar

Amazon Prime: American football: NFL (Thursday) and Tennis: ATP World Tour and US Open

Rugby journalist Peter Jackson told BBC Wales the decision to take Pro14 rugby off free-to-air is a "retrograde step".

"Any sport needs to be very careful about moving onto pay TV," he said.

"If you take sport away from free-to-air you lose audiences, and you lose the opportunities for young people to access those sports.

"Pro14 matches get audiences of 100,000 people and more in Wales. Satellite channels just don't get that for ordinary club matches.

"The experience of cricket shows just how much you lose, and additional money doesn't make up for it.

"It should concern Pro14 as to whether its product can reach people through pay TV. "

But Paul Williams, writer for Rugby World said the new deal could actually be a good thing for Welsh rugby.

"What the Welsh regions need is money, now, and this is the deal that will give them that.

"The fact that matches will now be shown on a pay-TV channel could also lead to a rise in attendances at matches.

"On the negative side, however, it's such a small channel.

"I have a lot of sport subscriptions on my TV, and I used to have Premier Sports to watch the [French] Top 14, but Sky have got the rights to that now."