{"id":200949,"date":"2025-10-09T17:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/200949\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:51:10","slug":"sky-rugby-rights-deal-stephen-donald-tipped-for-bigger-commentary-role-gregor-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/200949\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky rugby rights deal: Stephen Donald tipped for bigger commentary role \u2013 Gregor Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald, who is most famous for kicking the winning penalty in the 2011 World Cup final<\/a>, is understood to have impressed Sky\u2019s management and leadership with the astuteness of his game analysis and willingness to tackle issues impacting the game.<\/p>\n

The self-styled home of sport is also likely to have designs on signing up current players Aaron Cruden and Angus Ta\u2019avao once they retire, as both have shown themselves to be naturals in front of the camera in bit-part roles.<\/p>\n

One other name who might be on Sky\u2019s wishlist is former Black Fern Ruby Tui<\/a>, who enjoyed a large following while working for the BBC at the recent World Cup in England.<\/p>\n

\"SkySky is sharing broadcast rights for NPC matches with TVNZ. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Tui is a recognised character with a capacity to entertain through her on-camera persona and would be a strong contender, now that her playing days are coming to an end, to lead Sky\u2019s women\u2019s rugby coverage over the next five years.<\/p>\n

Sky is also likely to use this next rights cycle to build the exposure and experience of its two emerging commentators, Jeff McTainsh and Rikki Swannell.<\/p>\n

Long-serving veterans Grant Nisbett and Tony Johnson are universally recognised as two of the best rugby commentators in the world, but Sky will inevitably have succession planning on the agenda for this coming cycle.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who will commentate on the UK leg of the upcoming end-of-year tour (Nisbett will be in Chicago), is presumably set to continue as the senior caller \u2013 assigned most of the All Blacks tests for the next two to three years.<\/p>\n

\"WorldWorld Cup-winner Ruby Tui was part of the BBC\u2019s coverage of this year’s tournament in England. Photo \/ BBC<\/p>\n

While there has been a preference in some countries for excitable commentators licensed to use catchphrases and hyperbole, Johnson\u2019s measured approach, attention to detail and natural flair for contextualising games has made him a timeless operator whose style aligns with the expectations and preferences of Sky\u2019s mostly mature rugby audience.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s focusing minds a little more sharply than usual as it moves to snap up talent is that under the terms of the new deal, TVNZ will operate as a co-broadcaster of NPC games.<\/p>\n

The state-owned channel is understood to have paid about $3 million to have access to 81 games, with the right to broadcast three live fixtures per week.<\/p>\n

These games will also be shown live on Sky and so for the first time in many years, New Zealanders will have the choice about where they watch premium rugby content.<\/p>\n

Under the new agreement, Sky will pay for all the production, but TVNZ will have the ability to use its own commentary and analysis team for the three live games it has bought the rights to screen.<\/p>\n

And TVNZ\u2019s general manager sports and events, Melodie Robinson, says the plan is to utilise that option and recruit and build a small team that will almost certainly see the highly polished Scotty Stevenson lead the play-by-play commentary.<\/p>\n

\"MelodieMelodie Robinson is TVNZ’s general manager sports and events. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Robinson says that a big theme of the coverage will be education \u2013 and therefore the second voice in the commentary team will be charged with explaining and simplifying refereeing decisions and the complexities of the laws in a way that enhances viewer understanding and builds a deeper love of the game.<\/p>\n

She says that a search for that person has not yet begun, while the third key member of the team will be someone with the gravitas to appeal to the older audience that will access games via the linear TVNZ 1, while simultaneously being able to engage younger viewers who have already built an affinity with TVNZ+.<\/p>\n

Robinson says that live coverage will be important in TVNZ\u2019s quest to prove itself capable, in time, of becoming a genuine competitor to Sky in the field of sports broadcasting, but that the ability to produce a suite of content options packaged around the games will be just as vital.<\/p>\n

\"StephenStephen Donald strikes his crucial penalty during the 2011 Rugby World Cup final between the All Blacks and France. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

She says that the portfolio is likely to include short-form video that generates debate, high-tech, deep-dive analysis shows and rich, long-form content that showcases personalities and tells stories that are not currently being told.<\/p>\n

TVNZ\u2019s determination to become a broadcasting force with a difference is reflected in its decision to hire the supremely creative Adrian Stevanon as executive producer of sport.<\/p>\n

Stevanon joins TVNZ from Great Southern Television, where he was head of factual content, overseeing such projects as the Restaurant that Makes Mistakes, Family, Faith and Footy: A Pasifika Rugby Story and Hongi to Hangi and Everything in Between.<\/p>\n

A deep thinker with an innate ability to tell stories that resonate with a broad audience, Stevanon\u2019s brief will be to shape TVNZ\u2019s live coverage and wider content offering in a way that appeals to both sports and non-sports fans.<\/p>\n

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand\u2019s most respected rugby writers and columnists.<\/a> He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald, who is most famous for kicking the winning penalty in the 2011 World Cup final, is understood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,125589,8612,7136,13885,14015,580,15500,1911,25798,3206,760,12773,85,6182,36014],"class_list":["post-200949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bigger","tag-commentary","tag-deal","tag-donald","tag-facts","tag-for","tag-gregor","tag-paul","tag-rights","tag-role","tag-rugby","tag-sky","tag-sports","tag-stephen","tag-tipped"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}