Six Nations to remain free-to-air amid introduction of Virgin Media Sport

Virgin Media have confirmed that the NatWest 6 Nations Championship will remain on free-to-air television despite the pending introduction of Virgin Media Sport.

Virgin announced in June that they had planned to launch a new channel – Virgin Media Sport – that will be available to Virgin Media customers to showcase its range of sports content. TV3 group channels TV3, 3e and be3 will be rebranded as Virgin Media One, Virgin Media Two and Virgin Media Three from August 30th with Virgin Media Sport to launch as the group's dedicated sports channel. Virgin Media Sport will show every single Champions League and Europa League game as well as the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2020 and fixtures from the inaugural UEFA Nations League. The channel will be free to Virgin TV customers, and will cost €10 per month for Virgin broadband and mobile customers (with the first two months free) and €20 a month for non-Virgin Media customers. The Six Nations is not on the list of Ireland's compulsory live free-to air sporting events  but Virgin Media confirmed to SportsJOE that the Six Nations will be shown on the free-to-air Virgin Media One (currently TV3) and not on the subscriber based Virgin Media Sport. Additionally, the Heineken Champions Cup Rugby will also be broadcast live and free-to-air television for the first time since 2006 with Virgin set to show nine live Heineken Champions Cup rugby matches. The network will show one live group stage match per week, followed by one quarter-final and one semi-final, as well as the Champions Cup Final in May. The TV3 group won the rights to broadcast the Six Nations in Ireland in November, 2016, with the group announcing in a statement at the time that they will broadcast every game live and free-to-air for viewers in the Republic of Ireland from 2018 until 2021.