It's now official. Sky TV has confirmed in an NZX update that it has won back rights to the Rugby World Cup and other top-tier World Rugby competitions - and offloaded its failed RugbyPass service at the same time.
Its contract signed with World Rugby includes:
• Rugby World Cup2023, scheduled to be held in France in 2023
• Women's Rugby World Cup 2025, scheduled to be held in England in 2025
• Rugby World Cup 2027, scheduled to be held in Australia in 2027
Sky said it had secured pay TV, streaming and free-to-air rights. There was no immediate confirmation of a free-to-air partner or partners. The Herald earlier reported Sky would potentially look to work with both TVNZ and Three owner Warner Bros Discovery.
The deal is Sky's second major win-back from Spark Sport after Sky secured English Premier League football for the next six seasons.
Sky has not put a dollar value on the deal, but says it wasn't all cash. World Rugby will get Sky's RugbyPass service as part of the payment (more on the struggling RugbyPass below).
Sky bought RugbyPass - which was then streaming top-tier rugby to a global audience of ex-pats and fans outside the top rugby-playing countries - in 2019 in a deal worth up to US$40m (then $62.1m).
The deal consisted of a US$10m up-front cash payment, US$20m in shares, and earnouts of up to US$10m if performance targets were met.
In the event, only US$1.7m of the US$10m earnout was paid. RugbyPass had a small number of subs paying US$14.99 for its service but big plans - which were dashed as Covid decimated the sporting calendar.
It switched to a free news and stats site, and Sky wrote down the value twice. In its 2022 annual report, the pay TV provider valued RugbyPass at $11m.
It was a marquee moment for Spark when it won rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
But the telco ran into grief when technical problems with its stream forced it to handover the second half of a key New Zealand-South Africa clash to free-to-air broadcast partner TVNZ.
More broadly, Spark faced a backlash from All Blacks fans in rural areas without good enough broadband for reliable streaming.
The Women's Rugby World Cup Trophy and the Webb Ellis Trophy. Photo / Supplied
Sky recently revealed a new "hybrid" Sky Box that will be offered as a replacement for today's decoders. The new box can get streaming content via an internet connection, but will continue to use a satellite dish for Sky's regular channels - a measure Sky says is necessary for national coverage.
Customers will have the choice to stick with the current decoder, Sky says.
