All Blacks: How free-to-air test matches could save rugby in New Zealand - Gregor Paul

OPINION:

This time last year, there was hope that New Zealand was about to turn back the clock and see a growing number of elite sports and iconic contests return to being broadcast on free-to-air TV.

There were three things fuelling that hope. One was the collapse of Spark Sport, the streaming platform disruptor that tried but failed to knock Sky Sport off its pay-TV perch, and its decision to “gift” its inventory to TVNZ.

Secondly, TVNZ and RNZ were set to be merged into a government-funded media superpower, potentially giving the new organisation an improved budget to at least dabble in the content rights market.

And thirdly, Moana Pasifika, whose licence grants them dispensation to separately negotiate broadcast rights, were in advanced discussion to simultaneously broadcast their home games live on TVNZ and Sky in 2023.

TVNZ had picked up Blacks Caps cricket, selected NFL, women’s EPL, motorsports and some tennis from Spark Sport, but obtaining rights to Moana would have been significant as it would have given the state broadcaster a foothold in the all-important domestic rugby arena.

Here we are now, however, and not only was the plug pulled on the merger but the deal with Moana was never concluded, as, according to well-placed sources with knowledge of what happened, Sky held off granting approval, forcing TVNZ to pull out because it had to commit to scheduling.

And not only is TVNZ not part of a larger multimedia conglomerate, but it’s also feeling the full impact of the economic headwinds that have squeezed advertising budgets nationally and internationally.

The state broadcaster is, as Media Insider has reported, in the midst of a staff restructuring designed to drastically cut costs, and it is unlikely it will have the financial ability to bid for expensive sports rights.

Whatever hope there was of TVNZ becoming a serious, or at least viable sports broadcaster, has been greatly diminished in the past 12 months.

There is now a sense of inevitability that when TVNZ’s various “inherited” rights deals come up for renewal, Sky TV will use its superior financial power to win them all back, contract by contract, and New Zealand will once again have one dominant sports broadcaster and no prospect of that monopoly being challenged.

It’s probable, that if (or indeed, when) this scenario plays out over the next few years, it will barely register.

There will be no universal disappointment at the opportunity lost as the concept of being able to turn on the telly to watch All Blacks tests, Olympics, netball, the Australian Open tennis or Formula One for free is anathema to New Zealanders because they haven’t been able to do that for the better part of 30 years now.

New Zealand’s sports consumers are so beaten down and so accustomed to having to pay to watch all sport that many will probably convince themselves that they are better served by a super-dominant Sky, as at least then they can have all sport under one subscription.

But strangely, what may yet save the day for free-to-air (FTA) sports broadcasting in New Zealand is the way things could play out in the UK.

This week in the UK, the outgoing head of BBC Sport Barbara Slater told the culture, media and sport select committee that she feared the state broadcaster would no longer be able to afford its share of the Six Nations contract it jointly holds with fellow FTA rival, ITV.

Slater noted that BBC’s income has dropped by 30 per cent in real terms while the cost of acquiring the Six Nations rights has almost doubled over the past decade.

She, like many others, also believes now that agreement has been reached to launch the so-called League of Nations in 2026 – a competition that will effectively see the top 12 teams in the world play a mini-World Cup every two years – that the Six Nations will look to bundle all its content to sell to one broadcaster.

That will inevitably price the BBC and ITV out of the market and see all major tests in that part of the world go behind a paywall, with Amazon Prime increasingly being viewed as the likely new home of rugby.

For the Six Nations, it will produce the sort of financial windfall it desperately needs to shore up patchy-looking accounts and no doubt, too, it will give it a narrative to twist to justify its decision to work with a private-equity investor, and CVC will be egregiously credited as the driver of the improved broadcast deal.

But the Six Nations has been a FTA staple for the duration of the competition’s lifetime and fans, members of parliament and indeed players, won’t readily accept a world in which no rugby is shown on either or both of the BBC and ITV.

British rugby followers haven’t been subjugated by administrators working in cahoots with pay-TV operators the way New Zealanders have, and there remains in the UK not only protective legislation to ensure specific events remain accessible, but also a deep belief that major sports have an almost moral obligation to showcase some of their product for free.

Almost certainly what looms in the UK is a fight to ensure that some elements of international rugby remain on FTA broadcasters, and strong arguments will be heard as to why this is imperative to the future of the sport and to the rights of the public.

And there has to be some hope that having impassioned and high-profile FTA advocates in the UK will spark a similar discussion in New Zealand because the arguments as to why it’s important over there will be just as true as they are here.

Rugby, which effectively holds the key to financial viability for any wannabe sports broadcaster in New Zealand, is imperilling its future by locking all its content behind a paywall.

The game needs a new generation of players and followers as much as it needs huge sums of cash, and it won’t survive if it doesn’t strike a better balance between taking money and building audience.

There is still a glimmer of hope that TVNZ can build upon the fledgling position it has taken as a sports rights holder and broadcaster, but it is going to need vocal allies and progressive thinking by New Zealand Rugby if it is to blossom.

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.