Sky has secured rugby broadcast rights for five years and is enhancing its commentary team.
TVNZ will co-broadcast NPC games, using its own commentary team led by Scotty Stevenson.
TVNZ aims to educate viewers and produce diverse content, hiring Adrian Stevanon as executive producer.
Having secured rugby’s broadcast rights for another five years, Sky is now in the midst of retaining and adding to its commentary and analysis teams, with 2011 World Cup hero Stephen Donald tipped to play a more prominent role in the network’s coverage.
Sky had been hopeful thatit would agree terms to renew the five-year media rights (2025-2030) in January this year, but talks dragged on with New Zealand Rugby (NZR) until mid-August, and with uncertainty about whether a deal would even be reached, the pay TV channel couldn’t move to extend the contracts of key talent.
But now that Sky has retained ownership of Super Rugby Pacific, the All Blacks and other international fixtures as well as the NPC, it is moving to ensure that the likes of Donald, Justin Marshall, Mils Muliaina and Jeff Wilson remain at the core of its live production.
Donald, who is most famous for kicking the winning penalty in the 2011 World Cup final, is understood to have impressed Sky’s management and leadership with the astuteness of his game analysis and willingness to tackle issues impacting the game.
The self-styled home of sport is also likely to have designs on signing up current players Aaron Cruden and Angus Ta’avao once they retire, as both have shown themselves to be naturals in front of the camera in bit-part roles.
One other name who might be on Sky’s wishlist is former Black Fern Ruby Tui, who enjoyed a large following while working for the BBC at the recent World Cup in England.
Sky is sharing broadcast rights for NPC matches with TVNZ. Photo / Photosport
Tui is a recognised character with a capacity to entertain through her on-camera persona and would be a strong contender, now that her playing days are coming to an end, to lead Sky’s women’s rugby coverage over the next five years.
Sky is also likely to use this next rights cycle to build the exposure and experience of its two emerging commentators, Jeff McTainsh and Rikki Swannell.
Long-serving veterans Grant Nisbett and Tony Johnson are universally recognised as two of the best rugby commentators in the world, but Sky will inevitably have succession planning on the agenda for this coming cycle.
Johnson, who will commentate on the UK leg of the upcoming end-of-year tour (Nisbett will be in Chicago), is presumably set to continue as the senior caller – assigned most of the All Blacks tests for the next two to three years.
World Cup-winner Ruby Tui was part of the BBC’s coverage of this year's tournament in England. Photo / BBC
While there has been a preference in some countries for excitable commentators licensed to use catchphrases and hyperbole, Johnson’s measured approach, attention to detail and natural flair for contextualising games has made him a timeless operator whose style aligns with the expectations and preferences of Sky’s mostly mature rugby audience.
What’s focusing minds a little more sharply than usual as it moves to snap up talent is that under the terms of the new deal, TVNZ will operate as a co-broadcaster of NPC games.
The state-owned channel is understood to have paid about $3 million to have access to 81 games, with the right to broadcast three live fixtures per week.
These games will also be shown live on Sky and so for the first time in many years, New Zealanders will have the choice about where they watch premium rugby content.
Under the new agreement, Sky will pay for all the production, but TVNZ will have the ability to use its own commentary and analysis team for the three live games it has bought the rights to screen.
And TVNZ’s general manager sports and events, Melodie Robinson, says the plan is to utilise that option and recruit and build a small team that will almost certainly see the highly polished Scotty Stevenson lead the play-by-play commentary.
Melodie Robinson is TVNZ's general manager sports and events. Photo / Dean Purcell
Robinson says that a big theme of the coverage will be education – and therefore the second voice in the commentary team will be charged with explaining and simplifying refereeing decisions and the complexities of the laws in a way that enhances viewer understanding and builds a deeper love of the game.
She says that a search for that person has not yet begun, while the third key member of the team will be someone with the gravitas to appeal to the older audience that will access games via the linear TVNZ 1, while simultaneously being able to engage younger viewers who have already built an affinity with TVNZ+.
Robinson says that live coverage will be important in TVNZ’s quest to prove itself capable, in time, of becoming a genuine competitor to Sky in the field of sports broadcasting, but that the ability to produce a suite of content options packaged around the games will be just as vital.
Stephen Donald strikes his crucial penalty during the 2011 Rugby World Cup final between the All Blacks and France. Photo / Photosport
She says that the portfolio is likely to include short-form video that generates debate, high-tech, deep-dive analysis shows and rich, long-form content that showcases personalities and tells stories that are not currently being told.
TVNZ’s determination to become a broadcasting force with a difference is reflected in its decision to hire the supremely creative Adrian Stevanon as executive producer of sport.
Stevanon joins TVNZ from Great Southern Television, where he was head of factual content, overseeing such projects as the Restaurant that Makes Mistakes, Family, Faith and Footy: A Pasifika Rugby Story and Hongi to Hangi and Everything in Between.
A deep thinker with an innate ability to tell stories that resonate with a broad audience, Stevanon’s brief will be to shape TVNZ’s live coverage and wider content offering in a way that appeals to both sports and non-sports fans.
