The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has announced a new broadcast rights deal worth more than $275 million that will see all Super Rugby matches live on Fox Sports and a Sunday morning replay on Ten Network.
The deal will see Fox Sports continue as the home of rugby in Australia and the only place to watch all Qantas Wallabies domestic Tests, New Zealand and South Africa domestic Tests, the expanded 18-team Asteron Life Super Rugby competition plus The Rugby Championship.
The new deal ensures the long-term future of the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship (NRC), with Fox Sports to remain the exclusive broadcaster of the competition. Fox Sports will also continue to broadcast the New Zealand and South Africa domestic competitions, the Mitre 10 Cup and Absa Currie Cup.
Network Ten will remain the Australian free-to-air broadcaster, finalising a deal with Fox Sports to simulcast all Qantas Wallabies domestic Tests, the Bledisloe Cup, and all matches played by the Qantas Wallabies in The Rugby Championship.
And for the first time, Network Ten will show a full replay of one Super Rugby match per round each Sunday morning with a start time between 8am and 11am and a one-hour Super Rugby highlights show each Monday night.
Network Ten will also broadcast full replays of all Asteron Life Super Rugby finals matches featuring an Australian team.
Network Ten CEO, Paul Anderson, said: “The new agreement strengthens and extends our commitment to rugby and will bring more great matches to fans across the country.
“Rugby is a vital part of our premium sport content on Network Ten. We are delighted to be expanding our partnership with the Australian Rugby Union and Fox Sports to ensure viewers get the best possible coverage across all television.”
ARU CEO, Bill Pulver said: “These new media rights arrangements are a wonderful result for our game and we thank Fox Sports for its incredible support of Rugby over the past two decades.
“Fox Sports provide an absolutely world class coverage of Rugby and we are privileged to announce that we will continue our partnership for a further five years. Rugby fans will continue to have access to live coverage of every match and quality Rugby programming across Asteron Life Super Rugby, The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup, all Qantas Wallabies Test matches and much more on Fox Sports.
“We are also delighted that Network Ten will continue to broadcast Qantas Wallabies Test matches and will for the first time feature a replay of the Australian Super Rugby match of the round each Sunday morning, along with a Super Rugby highlights show each Monday night. This added coverage for Super Rugby on free-to-air television will allow more fans to experience the best provincial competition in the world.”
