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Broadcaster · New Zealand

Sky

Sky Network Television Limited, listed on the NZX since 28 June 2005, whose site describes it as New Zealand's home of sports, movies, broadband and entertainment, and which holds the New Zealand Rugby broadcast rights for the years 2026 to 2030.
✓ Last reviewed: September 2026
Registered nameSky Network Television Limited, NZX ticker SKT [2]
First listed28 June 2005 on the NZX; a listing date, not a date of incorporation [2]
Financial year endJune [2]
Officers named by NZXSophie Moloney, chief executive; Philip Bowman, independent chair; PricewaterhouseCoopers, auditor [2]
New Zealand Rugby rightsReported by SportsPro on 22 August 2025 to run 2026 to 2030 [3]
Reported valueNZ$75m to NZ$80m a year, against NZ$111m a year under the 2021 to 2025 contract, per SportsPro [3]
Audited audience figureNone could be retrieved [5]

What is Sky?

Sky is a New Zealand pay television, streaming and broadband operator. The description on its own site is "New Zealand's home of sports, movies, broadband & great entertainment", and the same page presents Sky Broadband as "unlimited lightning fast fibre".[1] That is the company's wording about itself.

The NZX company profile gives the registered name as Sky Network Television Limited and the ticker as SKT, with a primary listing venue of New Zealand, ordinary shares, ISIN NZSKTE0001S6 and a financial year ending in June. The same profile names Sophie Moloney as chief executive, Philip Bowman as independent chairman, Chapman Tripp as solicitor and PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor.[2]

What does Sky cover?

The public statement of what Sky carries is the New Zealand Rugby arrangement. Sportcal reported on 22 August 2025 that the Sky package for 2026 to 2030 comprises all All Blacks and Black Ferns matches played in SANZAAR countries, Super Rugby Pacific and Super Rugby Aupiki, National Provincial Championship and Farah Palmer Cup matches, the Bledisloe Cup, the Rugby Championship, a new Nations Cup tournament, the 2029 British and Irish Lions tour and the 2027 British and Irish Lions Women's tour. The same report states that "up to five offshore All Blacks and Black Ferns Test matches across the cycle will be negotiated separately".[4]

SportsPro, reporting the same agreement on the same day, gives the same term and adds that TVNZ took the free-to-air provincial package.[3] Both are trade publications; neither is a party to the contract, and the terms described are theirs rather than the parties' published wording.

Sky's public-facing sport pages could not be read: the sport section of its own site returns a page whose content requires JavaScript, and no channel line-up, competition list or rights schedule could be retrieved from it.[6] What is on the record about the competitions Sky carries therefore comes from the two trade reports of 22 August 2025 rather than from a schedule the company publishes. Both reports treat the arrangement as covering men's and women's national teams, both cross-border club competitions and both provincial championships, with the free-to-air provincial package carved out to TVNZ.[4][3]

How large is Sky's audience?

No audited subscriber or audience figure for Sky could be retrieved. The NZX company profile carries board, auditor and listing information but no subscriber count.[2]

The New Zealand measurement currency for television is Nielsen Television Audience Measurement. NZ On Air publishes Nielsen TAM "5+ consolidated ratings" monthly for the programmes it funds — the data period on the schedule read for this page was 9 August to 5 September 2026 — and attaches the condition that "Nielsen TAM pārongo published by NZ On Air is not to be re-published, copied, quoted, or redistributed to any other parties".[5] No Nielsen TAM figure for a Sky channel or a Sky sports broadcast could be retrieved from a source that publishes one.

Nor could a subscription figure be retrieved. The NZX profile lists the board, the solicitor, the auditor, the ISIN and the financial year end, and no customer or subscriber number appears among them.[2] Neither trade report of 22 August 2025 gives a subscriber count either.[3][4]

Since when has Sky existed?

The NZX company profile gives "First Listed 28th Jun 2005" for Sky Network Television Limited.[2] That is a listing date. It is not a date of incorporation and not a date of first broadcast, and neither of those could be retrieved from a primary source for this page; the company's own corporate pages returned an error when fetched.

What can be dated precisely is the current rugby arrangement. SportsPro's report of 22 August 2025 gives the term as 2026 to 2030 and puts the value at between NZ$75 million and NZ$80 million a year, against NZ$111 million a year under the contract running from 2021 to 2025. Those figures are attributed in the report to sources rather than to the parties, and they are a single trade publication's.[3]

Why does Sky matter in New Zealand's sport?

Because the 2026 to 2030 arrangement sits behind its subscription. As reported by Sportcal it places the national men's and women's rugby teams, both Super Rugby competitions, the two provincial championships, the Bledisloe Cup against Australia and the Rugby Championship on Sky, with only the free-to-air provincial package going elsewhere.[4]

That concentration is what makes the rights cycle itself worth dating: SportsPro's figures show the annual value falling from NZ$111 million under the 2021 to 2025 contract to a reported NZ$75 million to NZ$80 million for 2026 to 2030, a change in the price of the same sport across two cycles.[3] Broadcast rights sets out how such cycles are tendered, and rugby union and New Zealand carry the sport and the country.

References

  1. Sky New Zealand — official site, carrying the company's own description of itself and its broadband service. Accessed 2026-09-20.
  2. NZX — Sky Network Television Limited (SKT) company profile: registered name, first listing date, ISIN, financial year end, officers and auditor. Accessed 2026-09-20.
  3. SportsPro — All Blacks and Black Ferns stay on Sky NZ in cut-price rights deal until 2030, 22 August 2025. Accessed 2026-09-20.
  4. Sportcal — Sky NZ retains major NZ rugby rights until 2030, TVNZ nets provincial games, 22 August 2025. Accessed 2026-09-20.
  5. NZ On Air — Audience data: Nielsen Television Audience Measurement 5+ consolidated ratings, data period 9 August to 5 September 2026, and the republication condition. Accessed 2026-09-20.
  6. Sky New Zealand — sport section of the company's own site, which returns a page requiring JavaScript rather than a schedule. Accessed 2026-09-20.