London:

In sporting terms, the question for the BBC will be whether the new Six Nations deal is two points dropped or one point gained. Against a backdrop of confusion and rancour at New Broadcasting House over a hastily agreed licence fee deal, which shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant on Thursday argued in the Commons could drive sport off the BBC altogether, it will be spun as the latter.

Certainly in light of the one-way traffic in recent months, with Open golf going to Sky and a new complex International Olympic Committee deal under which it lost control of the destiny of the rights to the Games from 2022, it is better news.

It will argue that it has stopped another sport hightailing it behind the paywall in return for the greater riches on offer and that, in particular, the offering in Scotland and Wales will deepen its commitment to the nations and regions (an important consideration for the BBC politically as well as for viewers). Yet it is hard to escape the reality that this feels like a better deal for ITV, which is gaining something, than it is for the BBC, which is losing half of something it had to itself.

ITV will show England, Ireland and Italy home matches and the BBC will air Scotland, Wales and France home games. Of course, over the course of the six-year deal the number of times each nation is shown will balance out — but for the BBC to surrender Twickenham still feels symbolic. Both broadcasters will have to work hard to ensure they are able to maintain the narrative thread of the Six Nations, which given its uneven scheduling and stop-start nature is even more important than for other sporting events.

When the rights were shared between BBC and Sky for one contractual period, with the pay TV broadcaster showing England’s matches and the Corporation the rest, it was something of a disaster. The diehards still found a way to watch but the floating voters, so important to making the competition more than the sum of its parts, lost the plot and drifted away. Related: BBC and ITV join forces to stop Sky winning Six Nations broadcast rights Its success in recent years has to a large extent been driven by the cross promotional power of the BBC across TV, radio and online, and the way that the competition builds to a thrilling single-day climax.

A record 9m-plus viewers came to BBC1 for the climactic clash between England and France this year that handed the title to Ireland. That will be easier to do across two free-to-air broadcasters, but it remains to be seen to what extent they will share talent and whether the broadcasts will have a common look and feel.

In many ways the deal, featuring an unusual pact between the two main terrestrial broadcasters under which ITV and the BBC will share the rights, reflects the new realities of the market. The BBC now shares the rights to Formula One, the FA Cup and the Six Nations with other broadcasters. The only surprise is that when the Six Nations, driven by the desire of the Celtic nations for more cash, fluttered its eyelashes at the big beasts of the pay TV jungle neither Sky nor BT Sport was prepared to deliver a blockbuster bid for exclusivity. Partly this is due to the peculiarities of the product which, despite attracting very healthy ratings, is neither one off major event nor regular subscription driver.

It is also a further indication that, given the £5.1 billion (Dh29.04 billion) they shelled out between them on Premier League football, neither Sky nor BT have a bottomless pit of funds. Debate still rages about whether the England and Wales Cricket Board did the right thing in throwing its lot in with Sky in 2005 and it will be reignited again by the current Ashes series.

The Royal & Ancient club is now facing similar questions over its deal for the Open. But that debate has also become a more complex one, involving “pay TV lite” services like Now TV that allow viewers to sign up for a day or a week to watch a particular event and by the possibilities offered by the internet and on-demand viewing.

The fear within BBC Sport must be that, for all that events such as the London 2012 Games and the Women’s World Cup in Canada demonstrate not only what the BBC can do for sport but what it can do for the BBC, those at the top table of management will prioritise other genres when it comes to the difficult question of where the pain should be felt. In some ways, it is easy to make the case for salami slicing the sports rights budget. Formula One, in particular, must be at risk.

The BBC’s sports rights cupboard, which still looked pretty healthy in the circumstances just a couple of years ago, is starting to look a bit bare. Match of the Day highlights have been retained until 2018-19 and its Wimbledon deal is also likely to be renewed as long as it can maintain its existing investment. Add to that half of the Six Nations, half of Formula One and half of the FA Cup — plus, of course, the Olympics until 2022 and the World Cups in Russia in 2018 and (probably) Qatar in 2022.

In some ways it is fortunate that these deals have been struck before the Crown Jewels list — that guarantees certain events for free-to-air TV — comes under renewed pressure and before the effects of the licence fee deal begin to bite. “This isn’t a cold bath — it’s a prolonged period in the deep freeze. Isn’t it the case that when sports rights inflation is running into double digits this BBC settlement means the Secretary of State is effectively forcing sport off the BBC?” said Bryant in the Commons.

“Doesn’t he realise that sport belongs to the fans, not to Sky, BT and Discovery — and the fans will be furious if the BBC can no longer compete for major sports rights?”

In some ways this is just political grandstanding. But just as the BBC faces some pretty fundamental questions regarding its future over the coming months in the wake of director general Tony Hall’s deal with chancellor George Osborne, so its role in the sporting life of the nation is going to come under the microscope. One only need look at the reaction to Mark Sampson’s bronze medal-winning England side or the palpable frisson as viewers rushed home to put on their televisions to watch Heather Watson give Serena Williams an almighty scare to understand that it retains the power to elevate sporting moments beyond the natural audience for subscription sports channels.

Unfortunately, the abiding impression remains that, for many at the BBC, top table sport is tolerated for its ability to deliver big numbers and hard to reach audiences rather than nurtured for its part in the national conversation. The case for sport on the BBC must be made powerfully, both internally or externally, or it will face the prospect of being slowly whittled away by an almost imperceptible process of shared deals in which it progressively becomes an ever more junior partner.

For the Six Nations, which gets a reasonable if not sensational uplift on its existing deal and retains the reach that free-to-air television provides, it is a good deal. For viewers who would rather not shell out for Sky Sports or BT Sport it is a good deal. For ITV, which will get a useful early evening driver of ratings and prestige, it is a good deal. For the BBC, things are a bit less clear cut.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd, 2015