Sky Television says it will ensure New Zealand Warriors rugby league games are broadcast free to air if it cannot strike a deal with TV3 or Television New Zealand.
Chief executive John Fellet said Sky was still negotiating with both broadcasters, but no agreement has been struck for next season's Warriorsgames in the NRL.
Sky has significantly discounted the amount it wants for the Warriors games, but the price is still too high for TV3.
While Sky screens the Warriors NRL games live on its pay channels, free to air broadcaster TV3 has normally picked up the rights for showing delayed cover.
However TV3 is understood to have lost significant sums on the Warriors this year, and owners CanWest Global Communications last month reported a $13.54 million loss for TV3 and TV4 for the year ended August.
Fellet said Sky had offered the Warriors for one-third the price sought in the past, but TV3 managing director Rick Friesen said that price was still unaffordable.
He declined to say how much money TV3 had lost on the Warriors, but said talks were continuing with Sky.
He could not say if an agreement was likely.
Friesen said the Warriors did give TV3 a sports profile, but ratings were sporadic.
"It's a nice profile, but a profile that loses you a bunch of money isn't really worth it, frankly."
Friesen said price was not the only issue and scheduling the Warriors was a nightmare, as the NRL only finalised game times a few weeks in advance. That made it difficult to set programmes and sell advertising.