Premiership TV deal set to spark new H-Cup row

European rugby suffered another divisive blow last night after England’s Premiership clubs announced a new television deal with BT that included the sale of British broadcast rights to its own Heineken Cup matches.

Relations between ERC, organisers of the Heineken Cup, and Premiership Rugby, the collective of England’s top-flight clubs who supply teams to the European competitions, have already been strained this summer ahead of a new shareholder agreement between all six competing unions for the 2014-15 season.

An axis of Anglo-French clubs want changes made to the Heineken Cup’s structure, which it says currently favours Celtic League competitors due to the absence of relegation in their RaboDirect Pro12 and have threatened to set up an alternative tournament when the current agreement ends in 2014 if their demands are not met.

All ERC stakeholders are scheduled to meet in Dublin next Tuesday to begin the formulation of a new shareholder agreement but yesterday’s developments have upped the ante considerably.

Premiership Rugby in June, through its representative on the ERC board of directors, gave approval to a new four-year agreement with Sky Sports for the British and Ireland exclusive live broadcast rights to the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup until 2018.

Yesterday, however, the English body announced it had signed an exclusive deal worth up to £152 million (€190 million) with BT to televise the Aviva Premiership live from next season in a deal. Part of the four-year contract, which cuts out Sky and ESPN, also gives exclusive live broadcast rights to games played by Premiership teams in European competitions from 2014 for three years.

ERC were understood to have been blindsided by the English move, which even breaks ranks with its uneasy alliance with the French Top14 clubs over the new shareholder agreement, as the Heineken Cup organisers hold the sole authority to sell TV rights, given to them by the six participant countries, including England, through its RFU and Premiership Rugby bodies.

ERC is understood to have seen a further anomaly in Premiership Rugby’s announcement in that its representative had approved ERC’s four-year TV deal struck with Sky Sports at an ERC board meeting on June 6 this year. How Premiership Rugby could then turn round and sign a separate, autonomous deal has left European officials perplexed.

Yesterday’s announcement therefore raised eyebrows at ERC, who couched their surprise publicly in moderate tones when it issued a statement which read: “ERC has raised questions over a purported deal by Premiership Rugby to sell the UK broadcast rights to European club rugby tournaments.

“While awaiting further information regarding Premiership Rugby’s proposed agreement with BT, the ERC Board, which met in Dublin today, believes that any such agreement would be in breach both of IRB regulations and of a mandate from the ERC Board itself.”

All of which sets the stage for a tense meeting in Dublin next week.