Sky TV parts ways with NZ Breakers as broadcaster’s deal with NBL not renewed

Wednesday, 4 September 2024

The New Zealand Breakers’ long-standing spot as a Sky TV flagship sporting product has come to an end.

The New Zealand Breakers are in search of a new broadcasting home after long-term partners Sky Television have elected not to renew their contract with the Australian NBL.

And as the New Zealand Pay TV giants institute massive cost-cutting measures across the sporting arm of their business – already evident in much of their rugby coverage – it may not be that the Aussie hoops league is the only victim. The Post understands that the broadcasters’ deal with Australia’s A-League football competition, set to feature two Kiwi teams in 2024-25, is also in doubt for the upcoming season.

Freddie Gillespie unveiled as Kiwi club’s defensive stopper.

While the end of the long-standing deal between Sky and the Australian NBL has yet to be officially confirmed, The Post understands that the die is cast and the league is looking at alternative broadcasting arrangements in New Zealand to host Breakers games.

The Australian NBL told The Post it had no comment to make on broadcasting plans in New Zealand at this stage, though it hoped to be able to firm up details of the ‘24-25 season coverage soon. The league tips off on September 19.

But Sky, in a statement to The Post, confirmed its coverage of the league for ‘24-25 would be confined to the ESPN channels it carries as part of its sports platform.

Sources have indicated TVNZ is engaged in advanced discussions with the league, though an agreement has yet to be reached. The state-backed broadcaster has been growing its sports portfolio, and is currently providing coverage of both the Paralympics and US Open tennis.

It has previously featured international football, basketball and athletics among an expanding sporting menu.

While the Breakers’ exit from the Sky Sport platform will be a blow to hoops fans in New Zealand who subscribe to the Pay TV outfit, they will still be able to view the league as part of the network’s wider coverage.

Star import Parker Jackson-Cartwright and the NZ Breakers will tip off the ‘24-25 Aussie NBL season on September 21.

“ESPN continues to cover NBL games this coming season,” Jonny Errington, Sky’s chief content and commercial officer, said via a statement. “Sky customers will be able to watch every match from the NBL live and on demand via the ESPN channel – this includes all Breakers games. ESPN is available to Sky customers through Sky Box, Sky Pod, Sky Go and Sky Sport Now.”

This appears to be the crux of the matter for Sky. While they have access to the NBL’s wider product via the league’s Australian broadcasting agreement with ESPN, they have been effectively paying to showcase the Breakers on their own sports platform.

With production costs significant, clearly a decision has been made that this investment no longer makes sense. It remains to be soon who will end up footing the bill for covering Breakers’ home games.

What is also not yet known is if the NBL does do a deal for Breakers games to be produced and/or staged by another broadcaster, such as TVNZ, would those fixtures also be part of ESPN’s coverage via Sky’s platform?

Last season, while all Breakers games were broadcast on the Sky Sport channels, the remainder of the league’s schedule was carried on ESPN.

Sky’s statement indicates it expects Breakers games to be part of their ESPN programming, though this would have to be confirmed by the league. All should become clear soon.

For most of their 21 years in the Australian NBL, the New Zealand Breakers have been a flagship sporting product for Sky TV, though they did jump ship to Maori TV for a couple of seasons around 2008-09. Sky were also a naming rights sponsor for the team for four years, before being replaced by BNZ.