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FOX Sports / SBS announce joint Netball deal

Netball Australia has signed a 2 year joint broadcasting deal for the ANZ Championship and the Australian Diamonds.

2013-03-21_2348Netball Australia has signed a 2 year joint broadcasting deal with FOX Sports and SBS.

FOX Sports will broadcast every match of the ANZ Championship, including the finals series, televised Live for the first time in
the competition’s history. It also has all Australian Diamonds Test matches played in Australia and New Zealand broadcast Live, in HD and with no ad-breaks during play.

SBS will screen one live ANZ Championship match every Sunday and two highlights programs per week plus  the Australian Diamonds test matches against New Zealand.

“We’re thrilled the new broadcast deal will provide Australians with the ability to watch every game of the ANZ Championship live through subscription and free-to air platforms,” ANZ Championship General Manager Andy Crook said.

“The latest announcement supports our ambition of setting the benchmark for female sports leagues, not just in Australasia, but around the world as we look to continue to engage with our current fans and inspire a new generation.”

Coverage begins this Sunday.

FOX SPORTS will become the home of netball with every game of the ANZ Championship plus all major international fixtures televised LIVE and in HIGH DEFINITION on Australia’s Sports Leader FOX SPORTS and Netball Australia today announced a new breakthrough broadcast deal that will deliver unprecedented netball coverage to fans across the country.

In a two-year arrangement beginning this year, every match of the ANZ Championship, including the finals series, will be televised LIVE for the first time inthe competition’s history.

In a further coup for netball fans, all Australian Diamonds Test matches played in Australia and New Zealand will be broadcast LIVE on FOX SPORTS. In addition, all matches will be televised in HIGH DEFINITION with no ad-breaks during play.

Additionally, in another first, the extensive coverage of netball will be accessible via the ground-breaking Foxtel Go app. Sports customers can watch, at no extra cost, on compatible iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch. 

FOX SPORTS CEO, Patrick Delany said, “It’s a historic day for netball in Australia with FOX SPORTS, in partnership with Foxtel, delivering fans the depth and quality of coverage they’ve always wanted, both at home and on the go.”

“Never before have fans been able to watch every ANZ Championship game live until now.”

“We’ll ensure netball fans have access to the best competition at home and abroad with live and high definition coverage extending to all Test matches featuring the Diamonds played on home soil and across the Tasman.”

“Netball is Australia’s leading female sport showcasing electrifying athletes in a ferocious competition that has the potential to generate a very strong following on FOX SPORTS.”

“It’s an exciting time for sports fans with FOX SPORTS embarking on its largest winter sports offering in history which includes the NRL and AFL seasons, Socceroos World Cup Qualifiers and the year’s biggest two sporting events – the British and Irish Lions Rugby Tour and The Ashes,” Mr Delany concluded.”

Beginning with the ANZ Championship on Sunday 24 March, 2013, the deal will see Telstra become the digital rights partner, streaming the ANZ Championship games played in Australia live on mobile. In addition, SBS will provide live coverage of
one ANZ Championship match each Sunday plus the Test series.

“We’re thrilled the new broadcast deal will provide Australians with the ability to watch every game of the ANZ Championship live through subscription and free-to air platforms,” ANZ Championship General Manager Andy Crook said.

“The latest announcement supports our ambition of setting the benchmark for female sports leagues, not just in Australasia, but around the world as we look to continue to engage with our current fans and inspire a new generation.”

Liz Ellis, Kathryn Harby-Williams, Kelli Underwood and Tiffany Cherry will lead FOX SPORTS’ coverage of ANZ Championship matches played in Australia. FOX SPORTS’ netball coverage will include:
· All 69 ANZ Championship (ANZC) matches plus the finals series from 2013 – 2014
· International Test Matches played by the Australian Diamonds in Australia and New Zealand in 2013 and 2014
· In 2013, that includes live coverage of all seven-Tests featuring the Diamonds; the five-Test Constellation Cup Series against New Zealand and the two-Test series against Malawi
· All coverage available to watch on Foxtel Go FOX SPORTS coverage of netball is available to Foxtel sports subscribers.
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SBS is proud to bring the ANZ Championship and Australian Diamonds test matches to all Australians under a two-year broadcasting deal with Netball Australia.

The agreement sees SBS become the official free-to-air broadcast partner of Netball Australia.

Commencing from the 2013 season which begins on 24 March, SBS will broadcast one live ANZ Championship match every Sunday and two highlights programs per week.

SBS will also broadcast the Australian Diamonds test matches against New Zealand later this year.

SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said: “This exciting new partnership demonstrates a commitment by SBS to supporting women’s sports in Australia and to helping to grow the sports which connect our diverse communities.

“Netball is the leading women’s sport in the country and we are proud that now all Australians will be able to watch our elite netballers both in the ANZ Championship and in the Diamonds test matches on free-to-air television.

“Netball will also become a cornerstone of our sports offering on our new SBS 2 when it relaunches on April 1 as a bold, provocative channel for younger audiences who want to engage with the sports they love.”

SBS Head of Sport Ken Shipp said: “The ANZ Championship is a world-class competition, attracting the best netball players from around the globe. There is a huge community of passionate netball fans and we look forward to bringing them the world’s best netball league, live every week on SBS.”

SBS’s broadcast of the ANZ Championship will be hosted by respected sports journalist Tracey Holmes in her return to SBS. She will be joined by former Diamonds and NSW Swifts player Selina Hornibrook (nee Gilsenan).

SBS’s coverage of the ANZ Championship will be live to all states every Sunday at midday AEDT / AEST on SBS 2 and streamed live online via SBS ON DEMAND. SBS will also show 30 minute highlights of the weekend matches at 5pm Sunday on SBS ONE, and 30 minutes highlights of the full week’s matches later in the week on SBS 2.

Live coverage of the ANZ Championship will commence at midday AEDT on Sunday 24 March on SBS 2 when the Queensland Firebirds take on the Southern Steel from New Zealand.

8 Responses

  1. @ Armchair Analyst – did ONE show all ANZ Championship games live across the country or only live in Eastern states? If it is the latter, than FOX Sports and Netball Australia are correct in saying it is the first time it is broadcast live to the entire country (as was the case when FOX Sports brought the rights to the AFL which was shown delayed in certain states prior to the launch of FOX Footy). If it is the former, then you’re right that this is false advertising.

  2. For those of you who are complaining at the treatment of Netball by Ten i will remind you of this seeing people have short memories. When Ten bought the rights to ANZ Championsship in 2009 after FOX didnt want it anymore, it put all of the games Live on ONE HD remember that channel was a sports channel., All games were shown Live, even the games played in NZ, by SKY Sport. The sunday games were shown Live on Ten aswell. This was in the first two years of that broadcast deal. So i dispute it when Netball Australia and FOX say that this season will be the first time all games are shown Live around the nation. It was when ONE HD was changed to ONE and most sport dropped is when things went down Ten were idiots that they dropped it but lets be fair Netball didnt rate on Sunday afternoon slot, thatt is a fact, no amount of bagging Ten will ever change that. This current deal is ok only two years suggests Netball Australia hopes the fta networks change their minds .

  3. Something’s telling me TEN dropping the netball rights is going to be on the list of “James Warburton’s Biggest Mistakes as TEN CEO”. But in saying that, netball fans would be cheering as it means netball will finally be shown live in Australia. Sure it’s a decrease in FTA games, but with Foxtel Play coming out in a couple of months there should be affordable ways for all netball fans to see their teams play – whether its getting a regular Foxtel subscription or watching it on PCs/tablets/phones. Also, its amazing to see SBS get rights to Australian sports – first it was A-League (although they are delayed) and now netball – this is what TEN should have done the entire time!

  4. Talk about going down to the wire – broadcast deal just announced for a competition that starts this weekend!! Apparently two facilitators were tendering for the work too and both had booked crew to be ready should they win the tender. Highly unusual.

  5. it is really good to see SBS (and Foxtel) on board and showing the netball live.

    Looks like that this is a promosing and positive year for SBS. Having Netball on Sundays, A-League on Friday nights (starting mid-year), and a revamped sbs2 from April.

  6. Lucky I have Foxtel because the free-to-air coverage is pretty pathetic. Good to see Fox Sports have signed Kelli Underwood because I thought she did a great job calling with Liz last year.

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