Media Insider: Netball TV rights - Sky walks away, Netball NZ forced to pay production costs in new TVNZ deal
It appears TVNZ has benefited from a sport desperate to stay on television and in front of audiences for the sake of retaining and appeasing sponsors.
Publicly-owned TVNZ refuses to comment on the commercial terms of the deal,, including if it is even paying a rights fee.
Instead, and in lieu of TVNZ having to stump up the production costs, sources say the state broadcaster might have agreed to share any revenue that comes in from advertising around the games.
Another possibility is that TVNZ might have agreed to a fee based on the size of the audience - the bigger the audience, the more netball may stand to gain.
Sky TV has held netball rights for the past 17 years. Photo / Aaron Gillions, Photosport
In an email to netball stakeholders yesterday, Netball NZ chief executive Jennie Wyllie said the company had been 'working hard behind the scenes over the past months to nail down a broadcast partner' for the 2026 ANZ Premiership.
'Ultimately, Sky TV decided not to make an offer for the broadcast rights, which means our partnership will end this year,' Wyllie says in the email, obtained by Media Insider.
'Netball NZ has made the decision to invest its own resources in the production and delivery of the 2026 ANZ Premiership, a commitment we believe is vital to ensuring the continued visibility and accessibility of our game.
Mainland Tactix captain Erikana Pedersen in action during her team's championship final victory over the Northern Mystics last weekend. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / Photosport
'Our reserves are obviously not infinite, so we are continuing to work with our partners on a new funding model that can deliver a sustainable competition.'
According to its 2024 annual report, Netball NZ has $12.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and $11.43m in members' equity, including $6.27m in general funds. (That same annual report states that, in 2024, Netball NZ received $355,000 in revenue in advance for broadcast and sponsorship compared with $2.4m in 2023).
This year, the ANZ Championship - with six teams - was held across 10 rounds, followed by a finals series over two weekends. That equated to 32 games in total.
Production industry sources say the cost of producing a netball game could be anywhere between $15,000 and $50,000, depending on the level of resources, including the number and quality of cameras, an outside broadcast unit and staff.
Wyllie said in her email that TVNZ would screen three games live on Saturdays and Sundays next year.
That means 32 games - based on our production sources' comments - could cost anywhere between $480,000 and $1.6m.
Wyllie has been approached for further comment, and a response is expected shortly.
Sky TV position
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney told Media Insider today that the company had been part of the bidding process.
But it appears that Sky - based on its audience data and how it viewed the value of the netball rights - was not prepared to pay a price that Netball NZ would accept, and did not make a formal offer.
Moloney would not confirm this, but said rumours that Sky had offered less than $200,000 for the rights over the next 12 months were 'absolute rubbish'.
Sky TV CEO Sophie Moloney.
The company had invested millions into netball over many years, she said - no doubt also referring to the hefty production and delivery costs of the sport.
'We just couldn't get to terms that made sense both for New Zealand Netball and for us. So then Jennie has gone and secured the deal with TVNZ - I wish them well.
'We absolutely love women's sports. We have a heap still on Sky.'
TVNZ position
TVNZ would not say whether it was paying any rights fee for the netball.
'The details of any deal TVNZ enters into are commercially sensitive,' said a spokeswoman.
This year, TVNZ shared ANZ Premiership games with Sky.
'The ANZ Premiership Saturday round-robin games reached over 552,000 people in 5+ on TVNZ 2 this year,' said the TVNZ spokeswoman. 'On TVNZ+, the competition reached over 76,000 accounts. TVNZ+ also saw an increase in streams of 29%, with over 250,000 streams for the 10-week season.
'This is a good result, but we believe that we can grow the audience further as the exclusive broadcast partner.'
The spokeswoman said TVNZ was a 'mass-reach, free-to-air broadcaster'.
'Partnering with us means codes have the opportunity to reach as broad an audience as possible. Our intention is to work closely with netball to grow their fandom and support them as they transition viewership of the game.
'Local content is also a strategic focus for us and showcasing our top netballers delivers on this.'
Netballers' pay
Netball NZ CEO Jennie Wyllie. Photo: William Booth, Photosport
The new deal might well put pressure on players' pay. If netball isn't receiving the same level of revenue from a broadcasting deal, it will need to look at its costs.
The organisation is currently in collective contract negotiations with its players.
'We don't want our women sportspeople to go backwards, but we are working really, really hard in this new environment to make sure that netball remains a viable choice for them,' Wyllie told RNZ today.
'There will be some different economics but that is the reality for entire industries at the moment.
'This is only a 10-week competition, so a lot of our 60 athletes ... need to study already, they've got part-time jobs ... so that won't be different. That is the reality of what it is to be in a female sporting environment.
'But we are working hard to make sure that the impacts are not greatly felt across the system and that they can share in any reward that we are able to realise.'
Silver Ferns
The Silver Ferns celebrate winning the Constellation Cup series against Australia last year. Photo / Photosport
The new broadcast deal does not include rights for Silver Ferns matches - Wyllie said in the email yesterday that these arrangements for 2026 would "be announced in due course".
Sky has rights to Silver Ferns matches for the remainder of this year.
The TVNZ spokeswoman said while the new deal was for the 2026 domestic competition, 'we hope this lays the foundations for a longer-term partnership, including the Silver Ferns'.
Asked if Sky would be keen to bid for the Silver Ferns rights next year, Moloney said: 'We would definitely be keen to have a conversation."
Wyllie said in her email of the 2026 ANZ Premiership: 'Alongside TVNZ, we will deliver in-depth coverage, expert commentary, and exclusive courtside access, building on this year's popular match of the week format.
'Fan-favourite innovations like the captain's time out and two-point shot will stay."
Wyllie said the new ANZ Premiership deal for 2026 was a 'critical first step in ensuring netball grows its exposure while we navigate a new broadcast and funding environment and move to a longer-term model'.
'We're excited, we are excited to have the chance to partner with TVNZ at the same time it develops and delivers on its own sports strategy.
"We believe netball will continue to attract more and more eyeballs in a free-to-air environment, which can help drive the sport through this transition period."
TVNZ, meanwhile, will have the capability to offer subscription TV next year - it seems feasible that netball could become a bedrock for a new sports subscription offering from the state broadcaster.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
The battle to get netball on TV: How did it come to this?
The Tactix celebrate winning the 2025 ANZ Premiership. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Analysis - How has New Zealand's top netball competition gone from attracting millions in broadcast rights, to having to fork out some of its own money to get it on TV? Just six years ago the Silver Ferns were on top of the world after beating Australia in the final to win the 2019 Netball World Cup. Fast-forward, and the national body finally secured a broadcast deal this week for next year's ANZ Premiership, following months of drawn-out negotiations. Sky Sport had been the major broadcast partner since 2008, but the national body is going back to TVNZ - marking the return of the sport on free-to-air television. RNZ understands that Sky TVs offer was so much lower than any of its previous deals, that Netball New Zealand didn't actually have too much to lose in rolling the dice. The new broadcast deal does not include rights for Silver Ferns matches - Netball New Zealand is still looking for a home for Test netball from 2026. How much TVNZ are actually paying for the rights, if any, won't be disclosed but it seems inevitable that players will face pay cuts. Netball NZ is taking a calculated risk that a bigger TV audience will draw more commercial revenue to make up for a massive shortfall in broadcast revenue. The one-year agreement also buys Netball New Zealand some time if it wants to explore joining the Australian league from 2027 in some capacity. It feels like netball is back where it was in 2007 before the dawn of the semi-professional trans-Tasman competition, which promised so much. But at least then the country's best players were still playing in New Zealand. Next year, nearly half the Silver Ferns could be playing in Australia. Netball World Cup 2019 winners. Photo: © (t/a Photography Hub Ltd) Netball New Zealand's stocks were high following the Silver Ferns' victory at the 2019 World Cup. When Spark emerged as a player in the sports broadcast market in 2019, Sky quickly locked down the netball rights until the end of 2024, despite having two years to run on the existing deal. In 2023 Spark Sport came to an end and Sky has had no real competition since. Tougher economic times means a lot of sports are now looking over their shoulder. Talks over a new broadcast deal between New Zealand Rugby and Sky have dragged on for months. Sky Television's profits have taken a hit , and they are tightening their belts. Sky Sport's 2025 ANZ Premiership broadcast looked a little different to previous years. The weekly Netball Zone programme was dropped, one on-site host fronted regular season games instead of two, and remote commentary was used for four of the matches. White Fern Amelia Kerr is now one of the most recognised sports personalities in NZ. Photo: Photosport Recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of women's sport globally and it's not really netball's fault that this has happened - it was always going to. As traditionally male dominated sports have invested more in their women's programmes, it's helped increase the profile of codes like of women's cricket and rugby. Netball used to be essential in Sky Sports' line-up because it was the only female sport it would broadcast on a regular basis. Women's rugby gets far more coverage on Sky than it used to, including Super Rugby Aupiki, the Farah Palmer Cup, the Black Ferns, and sevens. The same goes for women's cricket and next year will see the return to Sky of the White Ferns playing domestically. Sky also broadcasts the New Zealand women's basketball league, rugby league's NRLW, and football's A-League women's competition. And if Sky want the rights to All Blacks and Black Caps matches, New Zealand Rugby and New Zealand Cricket can leverage that to get better coverage for their women. Sky TV's Anna Stanley and Anna Harrison. Photo: PHOTOSPORT When Australian Diamonds sides used to tour New Zealand, they would be jealous of the level of media coverage the Silver Ferns got. But former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander told RNZ earlier this year that she had noticed a shift. "There was so much more coverage in New Zealand [back then] and I think you've taken it for granted to be quite honest because it's really hard to get it back," Alexander said. "In Australia we are fighting very very hard to have our slice of the media pie and it's still very tough …but I'm now a columnist, I write about netball - I wouldn't have dreamed of that 10 years ago." It probably took Netball NZ too long to recognise that with more female sports vying for eyeballs, it had to actively generate more intrigue in its showpiece competition. A concerted effort to attract top-tier quality import players to the ANZ Premiership from the start would have helped it compete with the Australian league. But a one import player per team limit and a lack of ambition in targeting a pool of top talent, meant that ship sailed a long time ago. NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark and players at the launch of the ground-breaking ANZ Championship, March 2008. Photo: James Ensing-Trussell Oh how the tables have turned. Between 2008 and 2016, revenue generated from New Zealand propped up the former trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. Broadcast revenue from Sky was divvied up equally among the franchises on both sides of the Tasman to cover the salary cap. But after banking more than $10 million from Sky for eight years, eventually Australia didn't need New Zealand anymore. Netball Australia finally started carrying some clout with their broadcasters and secured a paid broadcast deal for the first time. Australia's Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) competition struggles to break even, but crowds and viewership have been growing and the SSN pays the highest salaries of any league. England Netball launched a new-look Netball Super League (NSL) this year, marking a significant step towards professionalism. For the first time all games were available to watch, and the average salary increased by at least 60 percent. New Zealand was a couple of decades ahead of the curve when TVNZ started broadcasting netball regularly from the 1980's. It's only been in the last few years that other countries finally figured out that broadcasting women's sport is actually pretty cool. Any novelty factor has long gone in New Zealand, but England Netball and Netball Australia are riding that wave of momentum - and they operate in bigger economies. Kelly Jackson Photo: PHOTOSPORT It would be easy to conclude that the quality of the ANZ Premiership must be declining, that less people are playing netball, and viewership is dwindling - but that's not the case. Netball NZ said this year's domestic competition saw record-breaking crowds. Its 2024 annual report described last year's ANZ Premiership as the most popular season yet and that viewership was up over 1.7 million viewers - "another large increase year-on-year for the competition." It reported a 50 percent increase in ANZ Premiership viewership and over 35 percent increase in Constellation Cup audience in New Zealand. Silver Fern defender Kelly Jackson said the country's top netballers were still among the best in the world. "I think the hardest part of all to accept in these troubling times is that the product we are putting out on court is still to a really high standard and that's not being reflected in what's going on," Jackson said. The Silver Ferns beat Australia 3-1 in the Constellation Cup last year, suggesting the ANZ Premiership can't be too bad. Players' Association boss Steph Bond said participation rates were still miles ahead of other female sports. "The community game is still growing … there is definitely the fans and the people that are supporting the game just at this point in time we don't seem to be able to be getting that turned into dollars and making that a difference at that level," Bond said. The National Bank Cup final in Invercargill, 2005. The Southern Sting had a huge fanbase. Photo: Richard Jones Netball New Zealand's move to free-to-air might see some short-term pain for long-term gain. No longer will people miss out on watching the domestic competition because they can't afford a Sky subscription. In the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s most budding young netballers would have been able to name every member of the Silver Ferns and that helped netball hold its own against male codes. In 2024, Netball NZ trialled free-to-air coverage of the ANZ Premiership, and this year Saturday games were screened exclusively on TVNZ. If fans are the bedrock of professional sport then opening up the sport to more of them could ultimately pay off for Netball New Zealand. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Netball still under pressure in spite of TV deal
Silver Fern Grace Nweke. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / Photosport New Zealanders will be able to watch the 2026 Netball Premiership live and free-to-air for the first time in 18 years, but there are many unanswered questions over the TVNZ deal. Tension over the lack of a broadcast deal for the 2026 netball season saw worried players, unusually, speak out about their nerves over next year's season. This week the announcement finally came - Netball New Zealand was splitting with Sky to ink a new arrangement with TVNZ, one that will go back to an era we haven't seen for 18 years - exclusive, live, free-to-air games that everyone can watch. Fans celebrated, but underneath the headline announcement there are a lot of questions that aren't being answered. Financial questions. Such as, will the players have to take a pay cut? Did TVNZ even pay for the broadcast rights, given Sky had them backed into a corner then cut the sport adrift? Will there be a mass exodus to the Australian and UK competitions, given they (controversially) don't have restrictions on player imports? Today on The Detail , two of the country's premier sports writers, Locker Room founder Suzanne McFadden and RNZ sports correspondent Dana Johannsen, discuss the issues still facing netball. Netball New Zealand isn't discussing financial details, but we know it has a slush fund from former rights packages of more than $11 million that it could use for player salaries. "It may be that they take a punch to the stomach this coming season, and I guess they're hoping that they get more sponsorship deals because it's going out to more eyeballs," said McFadden. As far as TVNZ is concerned, "what they get out of it will probably be huge for them," she said. "I imagine that netball will now probably be TVNZ's number one sport as far as coverage goes." "It's still the largest sport in New Zealand, the largest sport played in secondary schools, so making it have a broader reach is a great thing." And TVNZ won't have to outlay a lot of resources - Netball New Zealand will be putting money towards the production of the coverage. It used outside contractors this past season to provide TV their one game a weekend that was broadcast. "We don't know if TVNZ has actually put any money into this agreement," said McFadden. "Netball New Zealand has stressed that they will have to look at other avenues to pay the players, so that's going to be looking for more sponsors, going to the government, to Sport New Zealand for money, and dipping into those reserves." Pay negotiations have been carrying on this week, "but I do think there will be a cut," she says. "Which kind of opens up this whole can of worms ... how many of our players will now go to play in Australia or England?" Last week Netball New Zealand announced the exemption criteria for players going overseas would be relaxed, meaning players such as star shooter Grace Nweke could stay with the Swifts in Australian Super Netball and still play for the Silver Ferns. Previously, Kiwi athletes had to meet a 100-Test cap threshold before they could be eligible to play in an international competition. McFadden thinks more players will head across the Tasman or to England. "I don't think there'll be a grand exodus because first of all those two major leagues don't have room just to fill up their teams with Kiwis." Johannsen said Australia is paying the price internationally for its policy of taking all-comers, with foreigners coming in at key positions and leaving skill shortages when it comes to the Diamonds. "It's really interesting to see but there's no push to change that [rule]," she said. "I don't think you'll see as much as a full Silver Ferns starting lineup all based over there, but I think maybe four or five players could pick up contracts. "If I was a young player, even on the fringe of the Silver Ferns, but wanting a bit of an OE, that's a really great option." Check out how to listen to and fol low The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Media Insider podcast: Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney on rugby and netball rights, customer satisfaction, and buying Three for $1
'The Rebel Alliance is where we might be, with Three,' jokes Moloney, referencing Sky's startling announcement earlier last week that the pay-TV operator had bought free-to-air Three (TV3) and Three Now from Warner Bros Discovery for $1. The cash-free, debt-free deal is officially sealed tomorrow - Sky takes over Three, although, as Moloney suggests on the Media Insider podcast today, there will be a significant bedding-in period, and viewers should notice little change early on. But make no mistake, the new deal pits Sky TV in even more direct competition with TVNZ for audience eyeballs and still-lucrative free-to-air TV advertising revenue. At the same time, TVNZ is implementing a new digital strategy, which will see it have the capability to introduce subscription TV and take on Sky for more sports rights and possibly other programming. In today's wide-ranging discussion on the Media Insider podcast, Moloney talks about how the Three deal came to fruition and the dangers of thinking that programmes that work well on pay TV will also succeed on free-to-air TV. She discusses rebuilding customer satisfaction and loyalty following the satellite issues earlier this year. Sky customers certainly hold the company to account - there's even a Facebook page, with 10,000 followers, dedicated to complaints and issues. Meanwhile, investors have been very happy with the company's performance and the Three acquisition - the company's share price has sat at five-year highs over the past week. Where the company was punished three years ago for trying to buy radio and outdoor advertising firm MediaWorks, investors see far more natural synergies with a free-to-air and broadcast-video-on-demand (bvod) business in Three. We start the podcast by delving into sports rights - another headline-dominating issue for Sky. Moloney discusses the announcement this week that Sky has lost domestic netball rights next year - and the factors behind that - as well as the latest discussions for lucrative rugby rights. Moloney still expects TVNZ to have rights for some New Zealand rugby matches over the next five years, despite Sky's acquisition of Three. She expects TVNZ will screen some NPC domestic games - matches that Sky has declared it does not want in the new five-year deal. Instead, Sky will focus on All Blacks and Super Rugby games - with the free-to-air rights for those games now likely to appear on Three. Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
