Gregor Paul: Amazon and SKY may end up more as partners than enemies

Aaron Smith looks on, New Zealand All Blacks v Australia, Rugby Championship test match. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

What appears to be an impending battle for New Zealand Rugby's broadcast rights may not in fact be that at all.

Existing rights holder Sky may not be about to face off directly with global giant Amazon to take hold of the All Blacks when negotiations for a new TV deal begin next year.

The future may be more about cooperation between the two companies rather than competition. Amazon and Sky may end up more as partners than enemies.

There is an unprecedented level of complexity attached to sporting rights broadcast deals given the changing consumption patterns and delivery methods.

The situation with rugby in this country is among the most complicated given the global popularity of the All Blacks; New Zealand's comparatively tiny population and the conglomerate nature of Super Rugby being owned by five separate countries.

Gone are the days when there was just one thing to sell - one owner of all the rights in all territories.

It doesn't work like that any more because the packages are sliced and diced to reflect the various content demands in different territories and the different platforms on which they can be consumed.

The fact that Amazon have honed into view in New Zealand by making an eight-part, in-depth documentary about the All Blacks, doesn't necessarily mean they are about to snaffle all the broadcast rights when the current deal with Sky expires in 2020.

Amazon have come in the front door in regard to their much-publicised documentary.

Agreement about doing it was reached with Sky's knowledge, input and blessing.

With NZR mediating, ground rules were laid down about what Amazon could and couldn't do to gain access to the All Blacks and Sky ostensibly said that as long as the filming didn't get in the way of match day coverage, then they were all for it.

Sky don't have the resources to make high-end content outside of live broadcasting so if Amazon do, and they can showcase the All Blacks to a global audience in a non-competing format, there is no threat to the New Zealand company.

The assumption would have to be made, though, that Amazon have agreed that Sky will have exclusive rights to air the content in New Zealand.

And this arrangement is potentially the blueprint for a future rugby broadcast rights arrangement. Simply put - Sky could retain their existing place as New Zealand's exclusive holder of rugby broadcast rights, with Amazon, or any other global entity, owning non-New Zealand rights to just the All Blacks.

It would be a smart deal for both companies and a winning option for New Zealand Rugby.

The latter will stipulate in any deal that all levels of the game - Mitre 10 Cup, women, sevens, Super Rugby and All Blacks - have to be broadcast.

Its estimated that the cost of having cameras and production capability at all these games is around $10million to $15million a year. But many of those games have limited audience appeal and therefore limited financial potential.

Sky own OSB, the company that specialises in outside broadcast productions and have a proven track record in delivering world class live broadcasts.

Amazon obviously have the money to build a similar competing company, but why bother? And even allowing for the fact that they work on the strategy of winning market share at any cost and then driving profitability later, it still wouldn't make sense for Amazon to get into the filming and production side of broadcasting.

And that's because it's unlikely in the extreme that they have any interest in anything other than the international rights to the All Blacks.

Sky can own the production, and all the rugby rights in New Zealand and clip the international rights ticket as the host broadcaster. It would be cheaper and more effective for Amazon to simply pay Sky to provide access to the broadcast.

Amazon can the use their global reach to then allow people all around the world to live stream All Blacks tests. That is surely the market they want because the size of it is potentially enormous.

Buried in NZR's annual report is the revelation that last year the All Blacks match against Ireland in Chicago was made available in territories which had no access to broadcast footage - essentially a handful of non-traditional rugby nations where the game has little footprint.

Almost 20,000 people paid to live stream the game, making NZR and presumably major media platforms, wonder what sort of returns could be generated if the same exclusive rights were offered to significant rugby territories such as the USA, Japan, France and the UK.

The logic of this scenario developing is hard to deny. NZR have long wanted to find a way to capitalise financially on the true value of the All Blacks brand.

Selling the non-New Zealand rights to Amazon would be the perfect way to do that and it comes with the enormous bonus that they can retain Sky as their local partner and honour their obligation to support and promote all levels of rugby.