The broadcaster only has 24,000 subscribers all of whom are based in the Wellington region compared with the 392,000 subscribers of rival bidder Sky. The value of the deal has not been disclosed but Sky said that it had pulled out of the running at $2.93 million. The deal also includes live screening rights in New Zealand for the Six Nations Championship.
Despite its loss Sky still retains rights for Super 12 and Tri-Nations lasting until 2005 as part of a deal secured with Rupert Murdoch?s Sydney based News Ltd.
In New Zealand the upcoming All Black rugby tests against Argentina, Ireland and Scotland could struggle to find a decent sized television audience after it was revealed that the latest broadcasting rights had been sold to newcomer TelstraSaturn.
