BBC to live stream Six Nations match to space

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In an effort to highlight its 'out of this world' coverage, and drum-up some interest in the process, the BBC has announced it will be streaming Saturday's Scotland vs England match live to the International Space Station.

British astronaut Major Tim Peake will be able to watch the first Six Nations rugby match featuring the home nations, which gets under way at 4.50pm on Saturday.

And he's clearly primed for the occasion, having already recorded a message to launch the BBC's coverage.

The match will be streamed 400km above the earth to the International Space Station, with the BBC and European Space Agency working together on what is, unsurprisingly, a broadcasting first.

Philip Bernie, Head of TV Sport for the BBC, said: "We’ve always tried to push the boundaries of broadcasting at the BBC, and streaming to space is an exciting first for us. We knew Tim was a massive rugby fan and now he can join the rest of the nation watching Scotland v England in the Six Nations."

It's certainly one way to ensure the BBC's Six Nations coverage stretches far and wide.

On the subject of "pushing the boundaries", while this year's Six Nations is only being broadcast by the BBC and ITV in HD, we hope the BBC is still on track for its promise to deliver 4K as standard by 2016...

Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).