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Nine secures Rugby Australia rights

Nine will broadcast every Wallabies Test from 2021 and one Super Rugby match each weekend.

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Broadcast rights for Rugby Australia will switch from Foxtel to Nine from 2021.

The three-year deal will include live Free to Air and ad-free subscription coverage and is worth approximately $100m in cash and contra.  There is also a two-year option for Nine to extend.

Nine will broadcast every Wallabies Test from 2021 onwards and one Super Rugby AU match each weekend.

All Super Rugby AU finals will also be Live on Nine.

Other games will air via Stan.

The deal follows a bidding war for rights between Nine and Foxtel (with 10 believed to be attached).

Further to rugby union, Nine will look at opportunities to invest in a range of additional exclusive sports rights, on either a pay or cross-platform basis.

19 Responses

  2. When you combine the FoxSports ratings with Channel 10 – it rated well over 650,000 people… We don’t know how many watched on Kayo, but it would have been a high number on top of that.

  4. Rugby coverage is a lot more diverse than just showing Australia only content, I presume that NZ Sky Sports will still be offering Foxtel its ‘Super Rugby’ coverage including NZ tests and Mitre 10 Cup, if so Stan wont have a genuine value added package for its subscribers, eventually it will need some diversity.
    Nine dabbling with union is interesting but one ‘Super AU’ game a weekend is pointless, it doesn’t indicate much commitment to union, in fact this deal could prove damaging to RA.

    1. Stan will have the rugby content from all SAANZAR nations. So NZ’s Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup, as well as South Africa’s Currie Cup will be on Stan.

      1. Well that’s helpful to know, as a rugby fan I will return to Stan to see how it goes, I don’t have much choice by the looks of it.
        Interestingly, I wonder if this could be the start of Stan and Nine obtaining the rights for other sports as well.
        Certainly Foxtel will become a bit more focused about their sports coverage, but plainly they didn’t want union.

  6. Another bungle by Rugby Australia. On Stan, are they for real?? Maybe 9 is trying to extend the life of Stan. With so ‘streaming’ services Stan will become an also ran.

  8. If the price of Stan goes up for all subscribers that will not be fair to those who are not into sport. Why should those who have no interest in sport subsidise Rugby Australia? Make live sport on Stan an optional paid extra same as how sport is an optional package on Foxtel.

  9. It wasn’t really a bidding war. Foxtel’s offer to Rugby Australia was less than what RA rejected last year. Nine is paying less than what Foxtel was originally prepared to pay.

  10. Wow. I can’t see the logic (or financial wisdom) in paying $100m for 3 years of RA when last Saturdays game couldn’t even crack 500k metro viewers in prime time.

    Is the Stan coverage standalone from the rest of Stan content (like is the case with Kayo / Binge) or will it be one subs for all content.

    1. I think that’s a bit harsh. Saturday is a low rating day and the NRL didn’t crack 500k metro often – at least they got to the top 5, which I don’t think a regular-season NRL match did.

      1. I don’t know what the NRL club match has to do with this. The game on Saturday was a Bledisloe Cup game which is basically the pinnacle of Rugby Union in Australia.

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