The BBC is to confirm today that it has secured live coverage of the Six Nations for the next three years in a deal worth £70m despite complaints from England and France that the oldest international tournament is being sold off too cheaply.

With BSkyB not tabling a bid and the economic outlook uncertain, Six Nations sources conceded yesterday that the BBC were "odds-on" favourites to recapture the rights to England's championship games at Twickenham for the first time since 1996, at a price significantly below the £100m originally demanded.

The BBC insists that it has not raised the bid that the Six Nations hierarchy dismissed as "silly". It proposes a grass-roots scheme including a rugby element within Blue Peter to stimulate youth interest.

"The market is in a terrible state and broadcasters who want to screw a rights holder into the ground can do so at the moment," a tournament spokesman admitted. "But that's a dangerously short-term view to take because the market won't stay this way for ever and memories are long."

Leading figures within the Rugby Football Union have argued privately that £70m split six ways is insufficient. Some would prefer the RFU to go it alone, as it did in 1996 when it signed a £87.5m five-year deal with Sky.

The Celtic unions, however, desperately need England to stay faithful at a time when the Six Nations requires a new sponsor. At least four major companies, with the mobile phone firm Orange understood to be among them, have shown interest, but a television deal needs to be agreed before negotiations can start.