The Six Nations Committee will this weekend will welcome the last of any prospective tenders for broadcasting rights with the BBC hot favourites to clinch the contract.

The deadline for bids for the contract is Monday, with Six Nations bosses hoping to reap around £150m for the three year deal on offer.

The BBC, who currently own the rights to all Championship games not played at Twickenham, are tipped to win the contract although they have stated that they are only interested in a complete package.

"We believe that all our plans for the tournament, such as preview programmes to whet the appetite, will count for nothing if no single broadcaster has the rights to the whole tournament," Pat Younge, BBC Sport's head of programming and planning, told The Daily Telegraph. "The current situation is like having 15 holes of the Ryder Cup with one broadcaster while the other three holes are with another. The tournament as an event is devalued."

BSkyB currently own the rights to England's home Championship games but are not expected to enter a contest for the whole competition.

"BSKyB have no intention of being used as a stalking horse in these negotiations," one media industry expert told the newspaper. "They feel, too, that they have been snubbed in certain quarters ever since they came into rugby five years ago. Time is not a great healer in their eyes."

In the wake of the RFU's unilateral decision to sell Twickenham rights to BSkyB in June 1996 for £87.5 million, a decision that caused a major rift with the home unions and saw England briefly thrown out of the championship, the other unions brokered a £36 million deal with the BBC.

One of the conditions for England's acceptance back into the fold was that all future negotiations for Six Nations contracts would be done collectively.

ITV, who have rights to the 2003 World Cup, are also unlikely bidders with ITV Digital going into administration this week and jeopardising their Nationwide league football contract.

Whatever money the new contract raises will not be divided entirely equally. France and England have always laid claim to a bigger slice. A formula will be used that also takes account of size of market and number of clubs as well as success in the tournament. Newcomers Italy will be factored into the equation gradually until they reach parity. A decision will be reached by May 15.