Sky TV has renewed broadcast rights for the NRL in New Zealand in a seven-year deal for an undisclosed sum, subject to shareholder approval.<\/p>\n
The new deal would run from the start of 2028 to the end of 2034.<\/p>\n
The agreement with the Australian Rugby League Commission would see Sky retain NRL and NRLW competitions, including all Warriors matches, as well as the State of Origin series.<\/p>\n
Sky said it would strengthen its free-to-air offering across its Three and ThreeNow platforms.<\/p>\n
While Sky did not reveal the value of the deal, citing commercial sensitivity, it said the gross value of the rights over the seven-year period exceeded 50 percent of Sky’s average market capitalisation of $443.8 million, meaning the deal was worth at least $221.9 million.<\/p>\n
The Sky deal is part of the ARLC’s broader A$5.3 billion ($NZ$6.46b) media rights agreement with Foxtel and Nine.<\/p>\n
According to NZX listing rules, it meant shareholder approval was required.<\/p>\n
“The passion New Zealanders have for rugby league continues to grow, driven by a world-class competition and the incredible support behind the Warriors,” Sky chief executive Sophie Moloney said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The deal comes amid growing popularity for rugby league in New Zealand, with ongoing speculation over a second NRL team to be based in this country.<\/p>\n
“For more than three decades, Sky and the NRL have enjoyed a strong partnership, bringing rugby league to fans across Aotearoa New Zealand,” Moloney said.<\/p>\n
“In recent years, we’ve built on that foundation by working together to grow the game, inspire the next generation of players and fans, and help rugby league continue to thrive.”<\/p>\n
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo echoed that sentiment, saying rugby league was “thriving in New Zealand”.<\/p>\n
“This partnership ensures fans can continue to enjoy premium coverage while helping us reach new audiences and grow the game even further,” Abdo said.<\/p>\n
It also marked a big win for Sky, which recently lost HBO content from its Neon streaming platform as Warner Bros. opted to launch its standalone HBO Max in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Sky said it would provide details about a special shareholder meeting “in due course”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sky TV has renewed broadcast rights for the NRL in New Zealand in a seven-year deal for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-513543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513543","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=513543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}