Six Nations Rugby action happens on Peacock and CNBC March 11 and 12. The annual tournament features the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. 

Wales plays France at 3 p.m. ET Friday, March 11, live in Peacock. CNBC has the match on delay Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m.

Italy plays Scotland March 12 at 9:15 a.m. ET on Peacock, and CNBC has the game on delay at 12 p.m. England and Ireland face off live March 12 at 11:45 a.m. on Peacock, shown at 2 p.m. on CNBC. 

France sits atop the Six Nations table at 3-0. England and Ireland are 2-1 and Scotland and Wales are 1-2. Italy is 0-3. 

The studio hosts are Dan Lyle, who was the longtime captain of the U.S. team, and Alex Corbisiero, who played for England.

England has won the Six Nations title 29 times, and Wales has won 28. The championship was the Five Nations, dating back over a century, until Italy was added in 2000. ■

The final weekend of February will feature a mix of boxing and mixed martial arts events as well as hoops and ice action across broadcast and cable channels. 

Saturday night also features a heavy lineup of combat sports events, beginning with Fox’s primetime telecast of the Anthony Dirrell-Kyrone Davis super middleweight championship fight. The DAZN streaming service will offer Canelo Alvarez’s defense of his super middleweight championship belt against Avni Yildirim.

Also Read: DAZN Steps Back into Ring with Canelo Alvarez

On the mixed martial arts front, ESPN+ will stream the UFC’s fight card from Las Vegas, featuring the Jairzinho Rozenstruik-Ciryl Gane heavyweight main event.

ABC continues its primetime Saturday night NBA telecasts with the Dallas Mavericks-Brooklyn Nets game. The network will also televise a Sunday afternoon game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. 

On Sunday, NBC will televise the Boston Bruins-New York Rangers NHL game before moving to the greens for final round coverage of the PGA Tour’s WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession tournament. 

NBCSN serves up a number of Premier League soccer and Guinness Six Nations rugby games on both Saturday and Sunday. 

Also Read: Six Nations Rugby on Peacock Premium, NBCN Feb. 27

Several college basketball conferences -- including the America East and Big South -- are launching championship tournaments this weekend as the sport moves toward its “March Madness” NCAA tournament selection day on March 14. Meanwhile, a number of top 10 teams are in play Saturday including top-ranked Gonzaga against LMU (ESPN), second-ranked Baylor facing 17th-ranked Kansas (ESPN), third-ranked Michigan against Indiana (Fox), fifth-ranked Illinois facing 23rd-ranked Wisconsin (ESPN), seventh-ranked Oklahoma battling state rival Oklahoma St. (ABC), and 10th-ranked West Virginia meeting Kansas State (ESPN2).

NBC Sports’ coverage of Guinness Six Nations rugby continues this weekend. On Feb. 27, Italy faces Ireland in Rome. The match is live on Peacock Premium at 9:15 a.m. ET and will air later on NBCSN, kickoff at 12:30 p.m. ET. 

Wales faces England in Cardiff that same day. That kicks off 11:45 a.m. ET, live on Peacock Premium, and at 2:30 p.m. on NBCSN. England beat Wales 33-30 a year ago. 

France versus Scotland, set for February 28, has been postponed due to COVID concerns.

Also Read: Sports and OTT: Streaming Could Squeeze the Last Vestige of Appointment TV

Ahmed Fareed and Alex Corbisiero are the studio hosts for NBC Sports. 

Peacock Premium costs $4.99 monthly. NBCUniversal is shutting down NBCSN by the end of the year. 

France and Wales are leading the table with two wins and no losses. England and Scotland are 1-1 and Ireland and Italy are thus far winless. 

Each of the six national teams plays one another in an annual round robin. England won the competition last year. 

Upstart streaming service Peacock will add live Rugby games to its lineup of entertainment programming starting in November.

The 2020-21 Gallagher Premiership Rugby season will debut Nov. 20 on the $4.99 per month Peacock Premium service, according to the channel. The franchise officially moves from NBC Sports Gold’s 'Rugby Pass' to Peacock Premium, along with several other rugby-themed program offerings, including coverage of the Six Nations Rugby Championship.

Peacock on Saturday will air Fourth round action of The Six Nations Rugby Championship -- which resumes this weekend after being postponed in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic-- including the Ireland-Italy matchup, said the service.  

Along with Rugby, Peacock Premium will offer other live sports programming including Premier League soccer, a new primetime Sunday NFL Wild Card playoff game, Olympics and Paralympics coverage; U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and Ryder Cup golf; plus the Peacock Originals Lost Speedways, hosted by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and In Deep with Ryan Lochte.

NBC Sports Group presents live rugby “sevens” action this weekend from the annual Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship from Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia. The action, seven-per-side rugby instead of the traditional 15, airs on NBC and NBCSN. 

Coverage begins on Saturday,  June 3, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC with live preliminary-round matches, followed by live coverage on cable's NBCSN at 5 p.m. Coverage continues Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN, and shifts to NBC at 3 p.m. with live coverage of the championship final.

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will provide streaming coverage of the action. 

Leigh Diffey will handle play by play for all telecasts. Former USA Sevens captain Brian Hightower is in the booth, too, while Marty Snider reports all the action from the sidelines.

Read more at Broadcastingcable.com.

One World Sports said it has signed a multi-year, multi-platform carriage deal with CenturyLink for its Prism TV service, making more than 2,600 hours of the channel’s live sports programming available to subscribers to the IP-based service.

“CenturyLink provides a great opportunity for more viewers, across multiple states, to sample all of the exciting, live sports content that can only be found on ONE World Sports,” said One World’s executive vice president, distribution Randy Brown in a statement. “Prism TV customers with the new Prism Sports Plus package will be exposed to top talent from around the globe in soccer, cricket, basketball, hockey, rugby and so much more.”

One World recently added PRO Rugby and the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships to its lineup for May. Cricket also returns to the network next month with the English Cricket National Board vs Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Soccer dominates in April and May with the start of the North American Soccer League featuring defending champions New York Cosmos and the network’s carriage of the European Soccer Channels – Arsenal FC, Barcelona FC, FC Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC and Juventus FC.

Discovery Communications continues to beef up its sports holdings, with international unit Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific snapping up Setanta Sports Asia for an undisclosed sum.

Setanta Sports Asia specializes in rugby – it offers about 500 matches annually – and reaches more than 42 million homes across 16 countries. Key programming includes rights to the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, National Rugby League, Aviva Premiership and Guinness Pro 12. Recently, Setanta reached a five-year renewal of SANZAR  (South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby) rights, including all home international matches, plus Super Rugby.

Discovery has been aggressive in buying sports channels overseas, starting with its May 2014 acquisition of Pan-European sports network Eurosport. In March, Discovery partnered with Liberty Global to buy a minority stake in Formula E Holdings, a European racing circuit that focuses on electricity-powered vehicles.  

 “The acquisition of Setanta Sports Asia is an important investment for Discovery as we further build scale and expand our business in Asia.  Just over a year ago, Discovery gained a controlling interest in Eurosport – a bold play that took our company into the exciting arena of sports,” said Discovery Networks International president JB Perrette in a statement. “Similar to the strategy we have adopted for Eurosport, we will look to build on the strengths of Setanta and fortify its leadership as a must-have sports channel across Asia.”

Perrette added: “We will continue our steady investment in premium sports for Asia.  The recent investments in the exclusive media rights for Champions League in Singapore on Eurosport, and now Setanta Sports Asia, demonstrate our commitment to building our portfolio and presence in the region.  We are also very pleased to have Peter Hutton, who joined us a few months ago as CEO of Eurosport, leading the strategy of our newest global brand.  Peter has excelled in the sports media business and his extensive international experience in multiple markets, including Asia, will boost our momentum.”

In total, Setanta Sports Asia airs more than 500 rugby matches per season on HD and SD feeds across the region.  The channel’s multi-device player, Setanta Sports Plus, is widely accessible through online, tablets and smartphones.