All Blacks matches to be livestreamed

Brodie Retallick during the Rugby Championship test match rugby union. New Zealand All Blacks v South Africa Springboks. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and SKY will partner to livestream the All Blacks upcoming matches against the UK Barbarians and a France XV and the Maori All Blacks matches against Canada and the French Barbarians, in a move designed to grow the global fan base for the teams in black.

The partnership will see all four games livestreamed as pay-per-view events on AllBlacksTV.com and will be available to both international and New Zealand based fans.

The livestream will be available on all modern web and mobile browsers delivered in HD quality, depending on the viewer's bandwidth. Those who arrive late to the livestream, will have the ability to rewind to the beginning of the game at any time.

SKY and Fan Pass subscribers will still be able to watch all these games, plus the Tests from the Vista 2017 All Blacks Northern Tour, through their normal subscription.

SKY will provide the broadcast feeds including SKY match commentary for the livestream service.

"We are excited to be working with SKY to provide international and New Zealand-based fans the opportunity to watch the All Blacks and Maori All Blacks across a range of platforms and viewing options including AllBlacksTV video on demand," said NZR Chief Executive Steve Tew.

"SKY remains the home of live rugby in New Zealand, and the only place you can watch every All Blacks match live across the season. This includes the three All Blacks Tests coming up on the Vista 2017 All Blacks Northern Tour in November against France, Scotland and Wales.

"The livestream is a significant opportunity for us to use the latest streaming technology to grow the All Blacks global fanbase. There are over seven million allblacks.com and social media followers that live outside New Zealand so there is a real opening to engage these fans and grow our brand and following internationally by extending our broadcast options.

"With the broadcast environment rapidly evolving it's great to be partnering with SKY to try out new things. The livestream will take SKY's world class rugby production and commentary and use the All Blacks global channels to broadcast to more fans via the rapidly expanding on-demand streaming option," Tew said.

New Zealand-based fans can purchase the livestream for selected individual matches on AllBlacksTV.com for NZD $24.99 per All Blacks match and NZD $14.99 for each Maori All Blacks match. The matches can be watched live or on-demand after the event.

SKY subscribers can watch the four games live on SKY, delayed on Prime, and also available on SKY Go. Fan Pass customers can watch all matches live with their monthly subscription - which is NZD $99 for all seven All Blacks and Maori All Blacks matches in November (plus all the other sport broadcasted on SKY Sport 1-4 that month)

The four selected matches will be live streamed internationally on AllBlacksTV to over 150 countries featuring SKY's expert commentary team and analysis.

Dates and times of livestreamed matches (Note: all times are local to where match is located)

UK Barbarians vs All Blacks
Match taking place Saturday 4 November 2017 at Twickenham, London, Kick off 3pm GMT

French XV vs All Blacks
Match taking place Tuesday 14 November 2017 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon, France, Kick off 6.55pm CET

Canada vs Maori All Blacks
Match taking place Friday 3 November 2017 at BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, Canada, Kick off 7pm PDT

French Barbarians vs Maori All Blacks
Match taking place Friday 10 November 2017 in Bordeaux, France Kick off 9pm CET