Sharples fears IRB will snub triple bid

Pita Sharples. Photo / Martin Sykes

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples fears the International Rugby Board will reject the proposed three-way bid for the TV rights to the Rugby World Cup.

Dr Sharples said he was aware the IRB had turned down joint proposals before and he did not know what would happen to the latest bid Maori TV is leading with TVNZ and TV3.

"Who knows? They've turned down several [joint bids] before," said Dr Sharples.

The joint bid is the Government's latest hope after Prime Minister John Key intervened and the competing bids from Maori TV and TVNZ were withdrawn.

There is no guarantee the IRB will accept the new offer.

There is also confusion at how the games will be divided, with Maori TV chief executive Jim Mather claiming it was going to get the opening All Blacks-Tonga match exclusively although it only has 90 per cent coverage on the analogue network.

That contradicted Mr Key, who said in announcing the new bid that everyone would get to watch the All Blacks, meaning their games would be on TVNZ or TV3.

Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman said he knew nothing of Mr Mather's claim.

Dr Coleman had previously backed TVNZ to beat Maori TV's bid, saying he wanted all New Zealanders to see the games. Yesterday he said he was no longer involved.

The Maori TV-led bid has been portrayed as a victory, but it was resisting sharing the games with the other networks up until Mr Key's announcement saying the value for it was in the exclusivity.

Neither Dr Sharples nor Dr Coleman could explain why TV3 were piggy-backing on the latest offer, which is backed by taxpayer-funds.

A TV3 spokesman said it was because of its involvement in earlier bids and its success as the free-to-air broadcaster of the last World Cup.

The IRB rejected a combined offer from Sky, TVNZ and TV3 when the rights first went on sale last year, because the offer was too low and it was disappointed at the anti-competitive cartel behaviour.

It also rejected separate bids of about $2 million each by TVNZ and TV3 earlier this year which were deemed inappropriate. It is understood there were concerns the two networks were colluding to keep the price low.

In September, Maori TV made an offer of more than $5 million, using the $3 million from Te Puni Kokiri and its own money.