THE BBC is expected to be announced in the near future as the live broadcaster of all three of Scotland’s Autumn Tests this year, ending speculation that the matches might only be shown on cable or satellite television. BT Sport is also expected to show the games in some form, although last night a spokesperson for the Scottish Rugby Union refused to discuss the nature of any possible agreement.

Scotland’s rise up the World Rugby rankings to fifth in the world has led to a rise in the number of companies interested in broadcasting the team’s matches, and the fact that the games against Australia, the All Blacks and Samoa will be Gregor Townsend’s first home fixtures as national coach has also helped produce a far greater demand from media companies. The BBC and BT, however, have always been in joint pole position when it came to covering the matches.

One of the three games is likely to have an early evening kick-off, with an atmospheric build-up including a brief ‘lights out’ at BT Murrayfield. The game against world champions New Zealand, as by far the most attractive of the three, is the front-runner for this sort of presentation.

BT already have the naming rights to Murrayfield, and the national team’s jersey, as well as those of Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh, has the BT logo on the front. But, while BT Sport’s audience has grown considerably in recent years as a result of a massive investment in building up a strong portfolio, Scottish Rugby is eager to have as wide a platform as possible for Scotland’s matches.

For their part, BT are keen to raise brand awareness by having the biggest possible audience for their games, which means sharing coverage with terrestrial television. That would represent a change to the practice over the last two years, which has seen the BBC provide the only coverage of the Autumn Tests.

Scottish Rugby has traditionally taken one of the Autumn Tests away from BT Murrayfield, with Georgia playing at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock last year, for example. This year, by contrast, all three matches are scheduled to be held at the national stadium. Samoa will be the first visitors on Saturday 11 November, followed by the All Blacks on the 18th and the Wallabies on the 25th.