BT Sport confirm televised games

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs will appear four times on BT Sport during the opening six weeks of the new 2015/16 Aviva Premiership season.

With the competition starting six weeks later than normal – due to the Rugby World Cup – Premiership Rugby and BT Sport have taken the unprecedented step of confirming the fixtures a full 13 weeks ahead of the first match on 16 October.

This decision has been made to allow supporters and the 12 Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs time to plan for what is expected to be a compelling new season.

First up for Rob Baxter’s side will be their televised league opener away to rivals Bath on Saturday, October 17 (2pm).

A fortnight later the BT Sport cameras will be at Kingston Park for Exeter’s long away-day against Newcastle Falcons on Sunday, November 1 (1pm) before the TV crews head for Sandy Park a week later to screen the Chiefs entertaining Leicester Tigers on Saturday, November 7 (5:30pm).

A busy period of TV action will be concluded for the Chiefs on Saturday, December 5 when they travel to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry for the away game with Wasps.

Exeter’s home game with London Irish on Saturday, October 24 will kick-off at the later time of 6pm to avoid clashing with the Rugby World Cup semi-final, whilst the visit of Harlequins to Sandy Park will take place on Saturday, November 28.

"This season we have given supporters more notice than ever before of the televised fixtures to ensure they can plan ahead. This was an important issue for us and we thank BT Sport for their co-operation to achieve this objective,” said Premiership Rugby's Commercial Director Dominic Hayes.

"This season is the start of a new six-year deal with BT Sport to broadcast Aviva Premiership Rugby live and after seeing the audience grow by 50% over the previous two campaigns we are delighted to be kicking off the new era in style.”

Simon Green, head of BT Sport said: "2015 is an exciting year for rugby union and we're looking forward to our third season of broadcasting the Aviva Premiership and continuing to grow audiences on BT Sport.”

For a full list of fixtures see premiershiprugby.com/matchcentre

The 18 live matches on BT Sport are:

Friday 16 October (7.45pm) – Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints at Sixways
Saturday 17 October (2pm) – Bath Rugby v Exeter Chiefs at The Recreation Ground

Friday 23 October (7.45pm) – Gloucester Rugby v Saracens at Kingsholm Stadium
Sunday 25 October (2pm) – Leicester Tigers v Harlequins at Welford Road

Sunday 1 November (1pm) – Newcastle Falcons v Exeter Chiefs at Kingston Park
Sunday 1 November (3.15pm) – Leicester Tigers v Wasps at Welford Road

Friday 6 November (7.45pm) – Harlequins v Sale Sharks at Twickenham Stoop
Saturday 7 November (3.15pm) – Northampton Saints v Saracens at Franklin's Gardens
Saturday 7 November (5.30pm) – Exeter Chiefs v Leicester Tigers at Sandy Park
Sunday 8 November (3pm) – Wasps v Gloucester Rugby at Ricoh Arena

Friday 27 November (7.45pm) – Northampton Saints v Gloucester Rugby at Franklin's Gardens
Saturday 28 November (3.15pm) – Saracens v Worcester Warriors at Twickenham Stadium
Saturday 28 November (5.30pm) – London Irish v Wasps at Twickenham Stadium
Sunday 29 November (3pm) – Leicester Tigers v Bath Rugby at Welford Road

Friday 4 December (7.45pm) – Gloucester Rugby v Sale Sharks at Kingsholm Stadium
Saturday 5 December (3.15pm) – Bath Rugby v Northampton Saints at The Recreation Ground
Saturday 5 December (5.30pm) – Wasps v Exeter Chiefs at Ricoh Arena
Sunday 6 December (3pm) – Newcastle Falcons v Saracens at Kingston Park

In a non-televised change to the schedule Sale Sharks v Worcester Warriors will take place on Friday 23 October kicking off at 8pm.