England rugby fans "looking for payback" after being knocked out of the World Cup by Australia "will be able to see the teams’ first re-match on Sky Sports, after the satellite broadcaster secured a new five-year deal that includes England’s next three tours down under," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. Sky is thought to have paid significantly more than the current multi-million-pound deal with Sanzar, "the umbrella body representing New Zealand, Australia and South African rugby, to block rival BT Sport from breaking into international rugby." The deal, which runs until '20, "includes southern hemisphere tours by Ireland, Scotland and Wales." England "will play a three-test series next year with Australia, whose defeat of England made them the first host to go out of the World Cup in the group stages, as well as South Africa in 2018 and a probable tour to New Zealand in 2020." The 150 fixture-a-year deal includes the Rugby Championship "as well as the domestic rugby competitions including Super Rugby, ITM Cup, the Currie Cup and the National Rugby Championship." Sky’s move "blocks any further incursion into rugby by BT Sport which outbid Sky for the TV rights to England Premiership Rugby" (GUARDIAN, 10/21).
SKY HIGH: In London, Henry Mance wrote Sky "has weathered the loss of Champions League football rights to rival BT, reporting a sharp rise in customer numbers in the three months to September." The satellite broadcaster said that it added 100,000 retail and wholesale customers in the U.K. in the quarter, "more than double the number at the same time last year." The proportion of Sky customers who canceled their subscription declined from 10.9% a year ago to 9.8%. Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said the company had “sailed through” the period, although he noted that the increased competition has led to more discounts and promotions. In the U.K. and Ireland, the new subscriber numbers "include customers of Now TV, Sky’s low-cost, Netflix-style streaming service." Partly as a result, average revenue a user "was flat" at £47 ($72) a month (FINANCIAL TIMES, 10/21).
