TF 1 enters the fray. One month exactly before the start of the 2026 Six Nations tournament, France Télévisions announces that it has resold a significant portion of the matches. Happy buyer: TF 1 which, according to our information, purchased nine matches in total out of the fifteen in the competition. And therefore becomes, for one year only, co-broadcaster of the event.
Among the matches in its bag, the front page will offer, again according to our information, two matches of the XV of France: their away trip against Wales, on February 15, 2026 at 4 p.m., then that in Scotland on March 7 at 3 p.m.
France Télévisions kept the three Blues matches at home, including the highly anticipated kickoff of the tournament against Ireland, on February 5, at 9 p.m., on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo which the public group will offer. Then the closing match against England, decisive for the general classification, on March 14 at 9 p.m. Two matches which should logically generate the highest audiences of the tournament.
France Télévisions had to resign itself to reviewing its catalog of sports rights
This interference of TF 1 in the Six Nations is not really a surprise. Last year, the private channel tried to steal the rights to the tournament from France Télévisions, its historic broadcaster. The public service finally managed to secure them until 2029 for more than 30 million euros per year. But forced to make more than 150 million euros in savings, France Télévisions had to resign itself to reviewing its catalog of sports rights. A resale of part of the Six Nations as well as matches of the French Football Cup were put on the table this fall.
For TF 1, this foray marks a new stage in its development in rugby. In recent years, the channel has accumulated the acquisition of matches in this discipline. It thus owns the rights to the autumn test matches, but also those of the 2026 and 2028 Nations Cup, a new competition where the twelve best countries in the world will compete every two years.
Above all, TF 1 remains the historic broadcaster of the Rugby World Cup, of which it broadcast the last edition, and is guaranteed to broadcast the next one in the fall of 2027, in Australia.
