Stan is 9, not a separate company.
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Good to see Nine and Stan get Rugby Union.
For Nine, glad that they’ll show Saturday night games of the Super Rugby competition. Even if it will be on the multis (Go or Gem). All the finals live is even better.
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Congratulations to the Nine network gaining the rights to the Rugby Union. The good thing is that CHannel Nine is using their streaming platform, Stan to beam matches live. Fox Sports had a great run of televising the Rugby Union after 25 years.
I think the Super Rugby will be shown on a multichannel (9Go/9Gem) - It may clash with Suncorp Super Netball. I suspect the Wallabies matches, especially the Bledisloe Cup will be on the primary channel in HD.
A new era, a new Rugby Union, a new game.
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Do you suspect it because it’s been explicitly said by Nine they’ll do that?
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Seven and Fox will have streaming rights under the new Supercars agreement
While the NSW & QLD competitions may clash with Super Netball, those games will probably air on 9Gem/9Go
I think they’ll give it a go on the main channel first up to see what the ratings are like. Saturdays aren’t a big ratings night so I think they’ll take the risk
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It’s a landmark day in sports media rights here in Australia with Rugby Australia embracing modern technology. Streaming is taking over broadcasting all over the world.
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Nine must’ve been reading our forum 
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So main comment for me on the substance of the deal - Nine really need to consider ensuring that the 1 FTA game per round is the local team, similar to how the AFL treats the Sydney/Brisbane teams.
The main followers of Union are the ones that are going to subscribe - because they’ll want to watch the whole competition - there’s plenty of content for them that can create the value for Nine.
But the only way this deal makes sense is that if it can grow Rugby Union - and that means the local people following their local team - boosting awareness of them in the market and then creating the demand, so they eventually start following the whole tournament and they convert the sub.
The current A-League deal means someone sees their team on TV at best once a month, maybe only a few times a season. This is as good as not being on FTA at all, that you need to pay to follow your team - something a casual fan just won’t do.
If there’s just the one match of the round, and it’s just seeing the Reds/Waratahs over and over, they might get the core rugby audience - but that’s a dying audience. For this gamble to pay off for Nine/Stan this needs to grow the competition, not just monetise the niche.
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Today was a great day for Channel Nine with the network securing Rugby Union. The good news is that many people are heading into streaming. Thankfully fans don’t have to put up with Foxtel. As well, fans will watch Super Rugby Live and Free on the channels of Nine for the first time. This was a one step up from the existing broadcast deal. 10Bold showed a replay of last night Super Rugby match.
According to the Media release, it didn’t mention having matches streamed via 9Now. Will there be rugby union matches beamed through 9Now?
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I think that is assumed as Nine as all the rights. The story on the official rugby website states “streaming services”, meaning more than one.
My emphasis.
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The potential good news is that for next year it will be a domestic only competition due to travel restrictions so there will be (AFAIK) the 5 Australian teams in a double round robin format and final again, potentially followed by a post-season NZ cross-over (borders allowing).
So with fewer teams, they’re all playing each other in that early part of the comp so we should see variety there.
Once it converts into its post-Covid form in 2022 (fingers crossed), the challenge will be then ensuring marquee games on Saturday night and whether they show Aus V NZ/Pacifica fixtures.
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The big question is if any members of Fox Sports and 10’s commentary team (especially former Wallabies players) will go across to Nine? Will we see the return of former Wallaby Andrew Slack, who was part of Nine’s rugby union commentary team in 2011-2012?
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He was a reporter on Nine’s staff then (long ago retired) and is now 65 so I’d venture to say probably not the fresh look Nine would be after.
Perhaps Sean Maloney calling with Drew Mitchell and maybe a Gregan type to round out the team.
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I’m guessing that Peter FitzSimons will appear in some capacity.
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That’s been the issue with Rugby and basketball and football (soccer) here. They won’t put in the effort to grow their share. They expect FTA coverage of one or two games with random teams to be enough.
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Early on its life the NBL had local coverage on commercial stations and the ABC, then Ten bought the rights nationally and continued that local coverage. But it was ultimately unsuccessful as the ratings were always poor in the major east coast markets.
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