as revealed by Media Insider three weeks ago.<\/a><\/p>\nThe report said Sky would need to dig deeper into its pockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NRL rights were estimated to be worth about NZ$32 million a year in the last five-year deal, and would be worth more now \u2013 especially as the code considers adding a second team to New Zealand in a few years,” reported the AFR.<\/p>\n
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney socialised with V\u2019landys and outgoing NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo in a corporate box area during the Warriors\u2019 NRL match at Christchurch\u2019s new Te Kaha stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n
![\"Sky]()
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo (left) and chair Peter V’landys (right). Screen grab \/ Sky TV<\/p>\n
We know this because, helpfully, Sky\u2019s own cameras filmed Moloney in casual discussions with the pair in the corporate area shortly after halftime.<\/p>\n
Whether by design \u2013 Sky\u2019s commentator seemed very prepared in rattling off their three names \u2013 or by accident, the footage certainly sent a message to TVNZ that Moloney had a direct line to the NRL at a critical time in the rights discussions.<\/p>\n
The AFR was also careful to report earlier this week that no deal had been signed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA decision cannot be made before the next NRL Commission meeting, scheduled for next Wednesday. Sky must lodge a notice with the New Zealand stock exchange as soon as a deal is done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sky has refused to comment this week on the NRL rights.<\/p>\n
The NRL has not responded to an earlier request for comment.<\/p>\n
TVNZ head of sport, events and partnerships Melodie Robinson was aware of the footage of Moloney at the Christchurch game.<\/p>\n
\u201cA normal part of the process of having a crack at rights is making sure your relationships are good and getting in front of them, and I would say Sophie Moloney is one of the best in the business at doing that …\u201d Robinson told Newstalk ZB\u2019s Heather du Plessis-Allan.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got access through her current relationship with the Warriors as well. So, a good move from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight, the AFR reported that the new deal was a win for V\u2019landys and Abdo.<\/p>\n
They had pinned their reputations \u201con securing a result bigger than the AFL\u2019s $4.5 billion, seven-year agreement that runs until 2031\u2033.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much of the prospective deal is cash versus free advertising is unknown, and it is also unclear whether the production costs paid by the media companies are counted towards the total value,\u201d reported the AFR.<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That equates to a total deal worth almost $A5 billion ($NZ6.1b) over the next seven years. That record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[248323,1443,19064,95,85,8613,18296,3795,2223,3468,6435,2082,78,2936,5511,15399,29391,1073,111,139,577,69,1118,5202,1974,12718,7248,168307,8861,213,1361,437,12901,3006,6923,80],"class_list":["post-496257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-a5","tag-about","tag-agreement","tag-and","tag-australia","tag-billion","tag-box","tag-broadcasting","tag-confirmed","tag-deal","tag-does","tag-for","tag-in","tag-insider","tag-just","tag-massive","tag-mean","tag-media","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nrl","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-part","tag-record","tag-rights","tag-seat","tag-sevenyear","tag-sky","tag-sports","tag-that","tag-tv","tag-viewers","tag-warriors","tag-what","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}