Nine Network and Telstra signed a five-year partnership with Netball Australia as "growing interest in women’s sport rejuvenates broadcaster enthusiasm," according to Darren Davidson of THE AUSTRALIAN. Starting in '17, fans can "watch four of the new league's games live on television, with Telstra acquiring the exclusive rights to broadcast two games every week" through Internet-based service Telstra TV. The deal means supporters will be able to watch every game live on mobile -- the "first time a women’s sport has been broadcast in this way on a mobile platform." The telecom will "also become the Official Telecommunications and Technology Partner of Netball Australia and the new national netball league." The deal "marks the first major strategic play" by Telstra's newly installed Head of Media Michele Garra, a former Optus exec (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/19). ZD NET's Corinne Reichert reported Garra said that it is "part of the telecommunications carrier's plan for including more media offerings in its contracts." Garra: "We have a strategy around our media assets, which is basically sport and entertainment, particularly in the sports area, to try and bring every major Australian sport live to our customers and to Australians more generally, live on your mobile" (ZD NET, 5/19). In Melbourne, Linda Pearce wrote what Kerry Packer's Channel Nine did to revolutionize cricket in the '70s, the network "now hopes to do four decades later for netball," as one signatory five-year broadcast rights deal. Nine Managing Dir Amanda Laing said, "We're hoping to do something similar. What we want to do is find new ways to shoot the sport which really emphasize the athleticism, and the remarkable things that these women can do on the court, because this is not just a sport for women to watch. Women and men, girls and boys should be watching the sport." The rights fee has not been disclosed but will "underpin" the sport's future, and the league is yet to be named, but "succeeds the current trans-Tasman competition as both countries revert to stand-alone domestic leagues" (THE AGE, 5/19).
