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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.<\/p>\n
The BBC have long been the broadcasters of the Rugby League World Cup and they have been a home for England\u2019s internationals in recent years, including last year\u2019s Ashes series.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> in the UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n Premier Sports are a subscription-based platform with monthly packages costing \u00a318.99 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 \u00a340 to do so.<\/p>\n 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 \u2018travesty\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n There has now been a change as the BBC will have some broadcast rights but sadly for fans, it is not live TV coverage.<\/p>\n The end of IMG, retiring Ryan Hall and Rugby League World Cup\u2019s paywall problem \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n BBC Radio 5 Live and highlights package confirmed for Rugby League World Cup<\/p>\n International Rugby League have announced a number of last-minute broadcast deals for a number of regions and nations, with the UK among those.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Whilst it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Of course, the option remains to buy Premier Sports and witness the action live with all of England\u2019s games across the men\u2019s, women\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>. For future commentaries, check the same link and the BBC Sounds App.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udfc6\ud83d\udcfa IRL Adds @rugbyleaguewcup Broadcast Partners To Complete Global Coverage!<\/p>\n In addition to the coverage that has already been announced, the following international partners will also be broadcasting the sport\u2019s pinnacle event:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfaSportdigital TV \u2013 Austria, Germany and Switzerland<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfaSport 24 \u2013 IMG\u2019s 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)<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfaDubai TV \u2013 available throughout the Middle East and in Africa\u2019s Arabic-language countries<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfb\ud83d\udcbbBBC \u2013 will cover the tournament through its radio network and include highlights through its iPlayer streaming service<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf0https:\/\/t.co\/abvEKwVKZV<\/p>\n #IntlRugbyLeague<\/p>\n
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