SBS And Foxtel To Share Rights To Netball's ANZ Championship And Test Matches

Netball, the sport not rated as ''premium'' content by former rights-holder Channel Ten, "will retain a free-to-air presence this year through a multi-year agreement to share the ANZ Championship and Test matches between SBS and Fox Sports," according to Linda Pearce of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Netball Australia is set to announce a deal with SBS "to televise one match live every Sunday plus highlights packages." Confirmation of the Foxtel arrangement "was delayed by some minor contractual manoeuvring." The pay-TV network held the Australian rights for the trans-Tasman competition in its inaugural season, '08, "before being outbid by the Ten Network in what, for netball, had been a landmark free-to-air deal facilitated by the launch of the sports channel One HD." The delay in confirming both deals is believed to be centered "around the division of matches" (SMH, 3/15).