SKY disclosure regarding status of Rugby World Cup 2019 bid

SKY TV
PO Box 9059
Newmarket
Auckland 1149
New Zealand

10 Panorama Road
Mt W ellington
Auckland 1060
New Zealand

T. +64 9 579 9999

sky.co.nz

28 March 2018

Market Information Services Section
NZX Limited
PO Box 2959
Wellington

Company Announcements Office
ASX Limited
Level 4, 20 Bridge Street
Sydney, NSW
Australia


SKY disclosure regarding status of Rugby World Cup 2019 bid
for immediate release, 28 March 2018


SKY Television advises that we were informed overnight that we are not the preferred bidder
for the New Zealand broadcast rights for Rugby World Cup 2019.

We have been informed that negotiations are underway with the preferred party, and our bid
remains in play should those negotiations fail.

We are not at liberty to provide further detail of the bid process at this stage, but make three
observations:

 Sport broadcasting is a competitive business, and while we are disappointed not to be
the preferred bidder, it’s an economic reality that we can’t have every match of every
sport that New Zealanders like to watch.

 While the Rugby World Cup is great content and we put forward a strong bid for it, it is
an incredibly expensive event that plays once every four years for six weeks. SKY
Sport’s business is built on offering sports fans their favourite matches on a week in,
week out basis, over multiple years. Our customers will continue to enjoy the Super
Rugby, Mitre 10 Cup, and All Blacks tests (including the lead-up to the Rugby World
Cup). For 52 weeks of the year they will also watch the Warriors and the NRL, the
Cricket, Netball, Supercars, Golf, Cycling, Football, Basketball, Moto GP and Boxing,
to name a few.

 Rugby World Cup rights are sold by IMG Media on behalf of Rugby World Cup Ltd, and
are unrelated to the SANZAAR rights. SKY has the SANZAAR rights through to 2020,
including All Blacks tests, Super Rugby and the Mitre 10 Cup.

We will inform the market should the status of our bid change.



Ends.

For further information please contact:

Jason Hollingworth
Chief Financial Officer
SKY Network Television
(09) 579 9999
021 312 928