Cricket: No need to worry about New Zealand cricket as it’s free to air on TVNZ

New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White says there is no need to regret moving the game behind the new paywall, but believes cricket will benefit significantly from free-to-air TV from the 2022-23 season.

TVNZ will be the new home of New Zealand cricket until 2026 after the Sparks decided to close its subscription sports streaming service. The change will see around 100 men’s and women’s domestic and international matches broadcast free of charge each season.

White noted that New Zealand Cricket still strongly believed in the future of streaming, but said there was a lot of excitement about bringing the game back from behind the subscription service.

Spark Sport won the rights in a six-year deal that began in 2020, taking the New Zealand game out of the hands of long-time broadcaster Sky Sport.

I don’t think there are any regrets at all. Look where we are today; its ultimate New Zealand cricket. At Spark, it was new technology, we were ready to embrace it, and we really believed in streaming, and we still think streaming has a huge future.

Streaming also offers younger audiences the opportunity to participate. No regrets at all. It was a process with Spark, but I think the combination we’re adding with TVNZ’s access to the free market was a good combination. Now we have another situation and we are satisfied with the result.

It will be the first time since the summer of 1998-99 that TVNZ will have exclusive rights to cricket, and its streaming platform TVNZ+ is expected to play an important role in reaching the widest possible audience.

White expected a significant increase in participation as the game becomes more accessible to New Zealanders.

While TVNZ’s director of content Cate Slater would not confirm who footed the bill when TVNZ took the rights from Spark Sport, noting it was commercially sensitive information, a Spark spokesperson confirmed the telco is responsible for meeting its obligations under existing content agreements. agreed with various rights holders, some of which extend until 2028.

For NZ Cricket, the commercial side of the broadcast deal will not change, so three years on free-to-air TV will serve as a case study in how viable such a platform can be.

Its promotion of sports versus commercial revenue. It’s an interesting conversation, White said.

From NZC’s point of view, we were at a stage of development where the availability of free-to-air broadcasts and growing the game is really important, especially around the women’s game. Women’s sport is just taking off and we see it as a huge opportunity. This fits perfectly with our strategy to grow sports for women and girls.

A lot can happen in three years; new technology and I’d like to think you’d never know our relationship with TVNZ might not be a one-off. We could look to the future and build a partnership. Build something truly special.