Spark said this morning it has reached a deal with TVNZ, which “will become the home of the majority of Spark Sport content, subject to rights holder agreement, from July 1, 2023.”
NZ Cricket public affairs manager Richard Boock told the New Zealand Herald that domestic cricket will be free-to-air on TVNZ and free-to-stream on TVNZ+. The public broadcaster will not paywall any content.
The Herald understands that TVNZ will take over the production of domestic cricket, but that Spark will continue to pay NZ Cricket the rights fee over the remaining three years of its contract.
“Customers can continue to access Spark Sport as they normally do until July 1, 2023,” a Spark spokeswoman told the Herald.
“We will be communicating with any customers who are still on a [$255] 12-month contract come July 1 and offering them a refund for their remaining term. If any customers have concerns about the changes to Spark Sport, we encourage them to get in contact with us to discuss their options.”
Spark said there would be no change to its earnings guidance and final details will be announced following discussions with other rights holders.
Spark CEO Jolie Hodson said while she was proud of what the service had achieved, “At the same time. it has been challenging to reach the scale we aspired to across the Spark Sport platform, with Covid causing major disruption to sporting codes globally just a year after launch. That slower-than-expected start, coupled with the escalating costs of content rights globally, makes it difficult to justify the type of investment Spark Sport requires when we have a wider range of investment opportunities across our broader business.”
Sky maintains rights to most international cricket content. The pay-TV broadcaster has recently won back English Premier League and Rugby World Cup rights.
Spark is close to a deal to sell Spark Sport, the Herald understands, and an announcement is possible within days.
The Herald understands from market analysts and sports world sources that the telco will transfer the business to TVNZ. A joint venture setup is also on the cards.
In an NZX filing at 11.33am, following the publication of the Herald’s original story this morning, Spark said, “In response to media reporting, Spark today confirmed it is in discussions with TVNZ regarding a potential content partnering agreement covering the majority of Spark Sport’s portfolio.”
It added, “Discussions are ongoing and incomplete, and Spark will keep the market updated in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations.”
Spark and TVNZ refused further comment.
The state broadcaster is already Spark’s free-to-air partner for cricket coverage. TVNZ has previously said it is open to the possibility of paid-streaming content.
An insider says there’s been a desire to push a deal through before the TVNZ-RNZ merger, which could now be dead in the water.
Earlier this year, Spark Sport relinquished English Premier League football rights to Sky. And recently, Sky took back rights to the Rugby World Cup, with a multi-tournament deal running through to 2029.
Its highest profile remaining assets are Formula One rights, and domestic cricket rights — on a contract with three years left to run at what the Herald understands is around $36m per year.
There has been market chatter around a possible Spark Sport sale for several months.
In May, Jarden analyst Arie Dekker told the Herald a sale would make sense. Streaming sport was a relatively high-risk, low-reward endeavour for the telco, which copped brand damage when a key 2019 Rugby World Cup clash between New Zealand and South Africa stuttered, with second-half coverage simulcast through TVNZ.
Dekker said Spark — which earlier sold its Lightbox entertainment-streaming business to Sky in a $6m deal in 2020 — would be better off ditching the distraction of sports streaming in favour of focussing on its much larger core business, where it was performing well.
Spark has never released subscriber numbers or financials for Spark Sport, which is included in an omnibus “other” category in its results that includes several business units.
But the Herald understands the service is a money loser.
“Spark has been struggling to build a platform with sufficient recurring content to attract a broad audience,” Dekker said.
“In our view an exit from Spark Sport makes sense given the difficulty getting traction and questions around the size of the profit pool in pay-tv sport given competition and the power of rights holders.”
At the time, Spark CEO Jolie Hodson said the telco was committed to building a content-strong portfolio, adding the qualifier that deals had to make commercial sense.
Telcos around the world offload sport
Another factor: In an industry driven by global trends, telcos are blowing the whistle on their sports-broadcasting ambitions.
Mid-year, British Telecom said it would receive £93m deal that would see BT Sport become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eurosport (part of Warner Bros. Discovery).
It was the creation of BT Sport in 2012 that kicked off the global craze for telcos getting into sports streaming when it seized a chunk of Premier League rights. At the time, sport was seen as a loss leader that could be used to sell broadband plans, or keep current customers loyal. But telcos’ very entry into sports rights — followed by the likes of Amazon and Apple — has seen content costs spiral.
“BT has been wanting to exit sports for some time, and this is its get-out-of-jail-free card,” media analyst Paolo Pescatore told the FT.
Across the Tasman, Telstra last year stopped streaming AFL and NRL games in favour of offering its customers discounted Foxtel access. And although Optus recently renewed its EPL contract, earlier this month it gave up rights to UEFA football matches to Stan — a unit of traditional broadcaster Nine.
