Basketball: TV deal could see Breakers return to Sky

New Zealand Breakers player Rick Rickert in action against the Melbourne Tigers. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Pay television network Sky is likely to be back in the picture if and when the Breakers are confirmed in the new Australian Basketball League.

Breakers home games have been broadcast delayed on Maori TV for the past two seasons but a new deal in Australia could prompt a return to live home-and-away coverage on Sky.

Australian broadcaster Fox is believed to be in negotiations to cover every match in the new league, something that would make the Breakers a more attractive commodity to Sky.

"It would certainly pique our interest," Sky chief executive John Fellet said. "On just the Breakers games alone we tended to lose money on them, the way we value them."

Covering a Breakers game cost $50,000, making it questionable as a standalone operation, Fellet said. But if the network received matches from Australia as part of a contra deal it became a break-even proposition.

The same arrangement applied to Wellington Phoenix soccer games, Fellet said.

Breakers chief executive Richard Clarke was hopeful coverage of the club's away games would resume.

"It is being suggested that all games will be on television," he said. "That means that our exposure is doubled in terms of live games in New Zealand, which would really help.

"The Australian side gets resolved first. Fox have been in discussions over there and until that is done we are not able to look at our broadcast relationship."

It was possible that Fox would dictate a preferred broadcast partner, limiting the Breakers' ability to negotiate their own deal, he said.

A Maori TV spokesperson said the channel was interested in continuing its Breakers coverage but that negotiations with the club had not yet begun.

Meanwhile, domestic basketball should return to Sky's screens towards the end of the NZNBL season.

Sky withdrew its regular Thursday night coverage after Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) said it had struck a better deal with another party, believed to be Maori TV.

A source privy to the negotiations said that deal fell over when a former high ranking Basketball New Zealand executive insisted on presenting the coverage. In-coming BBNZ president John Gallagher would not confirm that, saying he could not comment on private commercial negotiations.

Fellet said he had no knowledge of BBNZ's dealings with Maori TV but, by the time Sky was approached to resume its coverage, money allocated for the competition had been spent elsewhere.

"They thought they had a deal with somebody else but I don't know the details of it," Fellet said.

"We reallocated our money and then that deal fell through."

There was, however, some money left in Sky's budget to cover the playoffs and possibly some late season games.

A member of the NBL board - a separate entity set up by BBNZ to run the league - Fellet said Sky would consider an extended broadcasting deal next season.

"It is very difficult to justify commercially but it goes in cycles. [The NZNBL] is in a lull right now but that is why we do five-year deals. Rugby goes through cycles and so does league. A couple of years ago nobody wanted to touch the Warriors and now they are a pretty hot property. Hopefully the same happens with domestic basketball."