<i>Media:</i> Sky's RWC win gives good view of its supportive Govt relationship

Columnist·Herald online·

9 Apr, 2009 03:30 AM2 mins to read

John Drinnan

Television rights negotiations to the 2011 Rugby World Cup give a box seat view on the government's new supportive relationship with Sky Television.

Sky confirmed yesterday it had won the host broadcaster rights - producing the coverage of the World Cup for the global audience - and the pay television rights to all 48 games.

Chief executive John Fellet confirmed Sky owned Prime TV will also be competing with TVNZ and MediaWorks for free to air rights to 16 games, including the opening match, quarter finals, semi finals and final.

Those talks with The Rugby World Cup agents IMG are being held in the second half of this year. The negotiations will be closely fought at a time when TVNZ and MediaWorks are facing financial woes and while TV audiences are turning their backs on rugby.

For non-Sky audiences the free to air offering will be inferior to the 2007 World Cup in Britain and France when all of 46 games were shown on TV3, albeit most of them late at night or early in the morning.

There will close interest if Sky-owned Prime TV wins rights to free to air as well - as it has done with 2012 Olympics in London.

Fellet doubted that Sky would be able to match MediaWorks and TVNZ for free to air, saying that TVNZ and TV3 would likely bid high because it it was so important that they have the games.

But shutting TVNZ and MediaWorks out of the Rugby Cup in New Zealand would be a major win for Sky which has succeeded recently in undermining Freeview. While theoretically reaching more than 90 per cent of New Zealanders TVNZ and TV3 argue its uptake is closer to 70 per cent.

But indications are that the present government would be relaxed with a Sky/Prime deal and Sky increasing its all-pervasive dominance of free to air rights. Earlier this week the government announced that it has hastened the scrapping of proposals that called for regulation of Sky - including shutting Sky out of some iconic sports rights for them to be set aside for free-to-air television