Super League will remain on Sky Sports until the end of 2021 after a new five-year deal thought to be worth in excess of £200million was unveiled on Thursday.
The current contract with Sky does not run out until the end of 2016 but the new agreement ends speculation that BT were set to bid for the rights.
With Sky pledging to once more screen matches from the Championship from 2015, it also puts a question mark over the role of Premier Sports, whose deal to televise the second tier of the professional game runs out this year.
The BBC have the rights to international rugby league for the next three years but Thursday's announcement will strengthen the game's links with Sky, whose coverage of Super League will extend into a fourth decade. The announcement comes just a week after a new structure for the domestic game was ratified by the Rugby Football League's board of directors.
Coming close on the heels of a hugely-successful World Cup and the unveiling of a three-year Super League sponsorship deal with First Utility thought to be worth £750,000, the deal significantly strengthens the position of RFL chief executive Nigel Wood.
Super League clubs met on Wednesday to ratify the new television deal and are expected to drop their opposition to Wood's plans to increase the central funding to Championship clubs under the new league structure. Wood, who is also chief executive of Super League, said: "I am delighted that we have been able to agree a new contract with Sky Sports that will extend our hugely successful partnership until the end of the 2021 season.
"The association with Sky Sports has enabled rugby league to realise many of its ambitions over the last two decades and this new contract will allow the whole sport to grow still further as we enter an exciting chapter in our history. "Throughout our negotiations it was clear that Sky were genuinely excited by the league structures that we are putting in place from 2015 onwards.
"Whilst the new contract does not come into effect until 2017, it allows for the return of live Championship action to Sky Sports from next year which will complement their first class coverage of the First Utility Super League and capture the thrills and drama of new-look competitions where every match matters.
"Following on from the success of Rugby League World Cup 2013, the forging of significant commercial partnerships around the First Utility Super League and the decision by the clubs to embrace the new league structures, this is another momentous day for the sport."
Sky, who revolutionised rugby league with their £87m exclusivity deal in 1995, will show 80 lives matches this season, increasing to over 100 a year from 2015. They will also increase their coverage of Catalan Dragons' home games from this season.
Sky managing director Barney Francis said: "This really is a fantastic time to be a rugby league supporter. "This new deal is great news for Sky Sports and our customers, who will enjoy at least eight more years of live rugby league and an exciting new structure for the sport in the UK."
The 2014 First Utility Super League season kicks off next Friday, when Wigan begin their defence of the title against 2013 league leaders Huddersfield at DW Stadium.
