Just over 24 hours before the Rugby League World Cup starts, a limited broadcast deal for the BBC has been announced amid fan backlash that there was no free-to-air coverage of the tournament.

The BBC have long been the broadcasters of the Rugby League World Cup and they have been a home for England’s internationals in recent years, including last year’s Ashes series.

However, it was confirmed that they would not air the 2026 Rugby League World Cup with Irish broadcaster Premier Sports securing the rights to show the tournament in the UK and Ireland.

Premier Sports are a subscription-based platform with monthly packages costing £18.99 though frustratingly, the tournament lasts more than a month so fans who wish to stream their rugby league action via Premier Sports will have to shell out almost £40 to do so.

As such, there has been plenty of backlash about the lack of BBC coverage with government minister Lisa Nandy criticising the decision at the time, whilst Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been urged to speak out by pundit Jon Wilkin, who has called the decision to put the the World Cup behind a paywall as a ‘travesty’.

There has now been a change as the BBC will have some broadcast rights but sadly for fans, it is not live TV coverage.

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BBC Radio 5 Live and highlights package confirmed for Rugby League World Cup

International Rugby League have announced a number of last-minute broadcast deals for a number of regions and nations, with the UK among those.

They have confirmed that the BBC will have radio coverage via the 5 Live service as well as highlights packages that will be shown via BBC iPlayer.

Whilst it’s not the news that fans had hoped for, it is at least some form of coverage and a very accessible one as well with iPlayer and Radio 5 Live easily accessed via their both the BBC iPlayer app and the BBC Sounds app.

Of course, the option remains to buy Premier Sports and witness the action live with all of England’s games across the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments streamed live, starting on Saturday morning for the double header in Perth when the women face Wales and the men face Tonga.

The first game that BBC Radio 5 Live will cover is the opening match with commentary of Australia versus New Zealand, which kicks off on Thursday morning at 10:05, available via the link here. For future commentaries, check the same link and the BBC Sounds App.

🌍🏆📺 IRL Adds @rugbyleaguewcup Broadcast Partners To Complete Global Coverage!

In addition to the coverage that has already been announced, the following international partners will also be broadcasting the sport’s pinnacle event:

📺Sportdigital TV – Austria, Germany and Switzerland

📺Sport 24 – IMG’s dedicated live sports channel for the airline and cruise industries, reaching millions of passengers every month across 35 countries (15 major airlines and 21 cruise ship partners)

📺Dubai TV – available throughout the Middle East and in Africa’s Arabic-language countries

📻💻BBC – will cover the tournament through its radio network and include highlights through its iPlayer streaming service

📰https://t.co/abvEKwVKZV

#IntlRugbyLeague

— International Rugby League (@IntlRugbyLeague) October 14, 2026