New partnership with NZ Rugby and its SANZAAR Partners

Sky New Zealand
PO Box 9059
Newmarket
Auckland 1149
New Zealand

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New Zealand

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sky.co.nz





22 August 2025

Sky to deliver every big rugby moment through to 2030 in new partnership with
NZ Rugby and its SANZAAR partners
Sky and New Zealand Rugby (on behalf of SANZAAR Unions) are pleased to announce a renewed
five-year broadcast partnership, commencing January 2026.
The agreement cements Sky as the home of rugby in Aotearoa New Zealand, delivering fans an
unmatched line-up of world-class competitions and iconic tours, including new competitions and
formats. Sky customers will enjoy exclusive
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live access to:
International competitions
• Every All Blacks match played in the SANZAAR countries, including:
- The Bledisloe Cup and The Rugby Championship
- New tours between the Springboks and All Blacks
• The exciting new biennial men's tournament featuring 12 teams across two conferences
from the Six Nations and Southern Hemisphere Unions, culminating with a grand final series
(the new ‘Nations Cup’ tournament, when finalised).
• The 2029 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.
• More Black Ferns matches than ever before, including all matches from:
- The Pacific Four Series
- New September/October internationals
- The British & Irish Lions Women’s tour in 2027
• Māori All Blacks, All Blacks XV and Black Ferns matches played in the SANZAAR countries.
Club and domestic competitions
• Every match from Super Rugby Pacific, Super Rugby Aupiki and Super W (and any new
competition featuring Super Rugby teams).
• Sky customers will also enjoy access to every match from the National Provincial
Championship (NPC), selected matches from the Farah Palmer Cup and the finals of the
Heartland Championship.

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All matches are exclusive to Sky with the exception of domestic competitions (NPC, FPC and
Heartland) which will have select matches played on TVNZ as well as on Sky.

Sophie Moloney, Sky’s Chief Executive, commented: “We are delighted to have renewed our
longstanding partnership with New Zealand Rugby and SANZAAR and to strengthen our partnerships
with the Six Nations and the British & Irish Lions, securing an incredible array of rugby for our
customers, bringing them well-loved and established competitions and tours, and a number of
exciting new formats.”
“While the terms of the deal are commercially sensitive, we’re confident that we’ve reached a
position that is sustainable for Sky over the five-year term and which also supports the long-term
health of Rugby in New Zealand. We’ve worked closely with New Zealand Rugby to build an
agreement that seeks to grow audiences, deepen fandom, and thrill our customers with the delivery
of five years of high-quality rugby, on and off the pitch.”
To support the visibility and growth of domestic rugby, Sky and New Zealand Rugby will sublicense a
selection of domestic matches to be broadcast free-to-air by TVNZ. This will include all NPC matches
and a selection of Heartland and Farah Palmer Cup matches. Sublicensed matches will continue to
be available to Sky customers as part of their Sky Sport package.
New Zealand Rugby has reserved the right to play up to five offshore All Blacks and Black Ferns
matches respectively over the five-year term from outside the scheduled competitions, to support
its efforts to increase its revenue base. New Zealand rights to broadcast such matches will be
negotiated on a match-by-match basis at the time.
In recognition of Sky’s live sports production expertise, Sky will continue as the host broadcaster for
all matches played in New Zealand.
NZR Chair David Kirk said: “We’re delighted to confirm this new agreement with our long-term
partner Sky, which will see Sky remain the home of rugby in New Zealand. The next five years are
exciting for fans, with the best domestic competitions in the world and an amazing international
calendar for our All Blacks and Black Ferns, including a men’s and historic first women’s British &
Irish Lions tour.”
Commenting on the dynamics of the new deal, Sophie said: “Our goal with this partnership is to
ensure our valued Sky customers and commercial partners continue to enjoy a full suite of premium
sport content, including the best of Rugby and of course the much wider range of premier sport we
offer on Sky and Sky Sport Now. We look forward to delivering exceptional Rugby to Sky customers
over the next five years.”
This agreement complements Sky’s suite of world class rugby rights, which already includes long-
term agreements for international and offshore competitions:
- Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups
- Rugby World Cup Sevens
- HSBC World Sevens Series
- World Rugby U20 Championships
- Six Nations
- UK Gallagher Premiership.

The agreement is conditional on Sky shareholder approval by special resolution
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, which will be
sought at Sky’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on 21 November 2025, and is subject to final
documentation.
Taking into account the renewed broadcast partnership with New Zealand Rugby, Sky expects that
its total programming costs for the year ending 30 June 2026 (FY26) will be within its target of 47%
to 49% of revenue in FY26. The consideration payable for the rights will be made in monthly
instalments spread over the term of the contract (60 months), and will be budgeted for and paid
from working capital.
Sky provides FY26 guidance with its financial results for the year ended 30 June 2025 on Friday 22
August.
ENDS
Authorised by: Kirstin Jones, Company Secretary


Investor queries to: Media queries to:
Amanda West Ellie Brosnahan
Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Sustainability Head of Communications
amanda.west@sky.co.nz ellie.brosnahan@sky.co.nz


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Sky shareholder approval is required under section 129 of the Companies Act 1993 because the value of the
assets to be acquired by Sky is more than half the value of Sky's assets before the acquisition and because Sky
will incur obligations or liabilities (being principally the obligation to pay for the broadcast rights and related
production obligations) in excess of half the value of Sky's assets before the transaction. Shareholder approval
is also required under NZX Listing Rule 5.1.1 because the “Gross Value” of the assets to be acquired by Sky
exceeds 50% of Sky's “Average Market Capitalisation” (as those terms are defined in the NZX Listing Rules). As
at 21 August 2025 Sky’s Average Market Capitalisation was $410,271,530.