The one-year deal, brokered by Carat, includes sponsorship across broadcast and online output for all of Sky Sports Rugby Union coverage, apart from the Heineken Cup.
The sponsorship starts at the beginning of Sky's Zurich Premiership season on Sunday and will include the entire Lions tour in June and July 2005.
On-air, Guinness will have opening and closing idents as well as break-bumpers across the range of programming plus a visual and verbal reference within on-air promotions.
The live programming within the deal includes; the Zurich Premiership; Zurich Wildcard Semi Finals and Final; England's Autumn Internationals against Canada, South Africa and Australia; and the British & Irish Lions tour, as well as southern hemisphere rugby from the Tri Nations, Super 12, Currie Cup and NPC tournaments.
The sponsorship will also offer an online presence as the exclusive sponsor of Sky Sports online Rugby Union content.
The Guinness sponsorship will also include The Rugby Club, Sky Sports' acclaimed weekly magazine programme which airs on Thursday evenings and runs throughout the northern hemisphere rugby union season.
Nick Robinson, marketing director for Guinness at Diageo Great Britain said: "Guinness has had a long association with Rugby both at an international and club level. In the past five years, Guinness's involvement in rugby has included sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup, and an on-going principal sponsorship of London Irish RFC. We are delighted to complement our other rugby activity by working with Sky Sports."
