TVNZ 1 to Air All Blacks Match Post-Spark

October 29, 2019 11 Comments

TVNZ 1 will air Friday’s Rugby World Cup bronze medal match between NZ and Wales an hour after it’s kicked off on Spark Sport.

It will screen from 10.00, pre-empting 1 News Tonight, Project Blue Book and Te Karere.

Originally, Spark hadn’t allocated TVNZ the right to screen the Bronze Final, but that was before the All Blacks lost its match on Saturday.

Said Spark in a media release:

The play-off for the Rugby World Cup 2019 bronze medal between New Zealand and Wales will be available live on Spark Sport and with a one hour delay on TVNZ 1 on Friday 1 November.

The match was previously scheduled to stream solely on Spark Sport, but the Spark team has made the decision to show the match with a one hour delay on TVNZ now that the All Blacks are part of the play-off.

Jeff Latch, Head of Spark Sport says, “We know the interest level in this match will now be much higher than when we originally decided which matches would show on free-to-air TV. We want to ensure that as many New Zealanders as possible have the opportunity to see how the All Blacks close out their tournament.”

All Spark Sport RWC Tournament Pass customers and New Zealand v Wales Match Pass customers will be able to watch live. Spark Sport monthly subscribers and those tuning in to TVNZ 1 will be able to watch the delayed coverage.

This decision follows a successful weekend for Spark Sport, with significant numbers of New Zealand households choosing to stream the semi-final matches live on Spark Sport.

Curiously, Spark didn’t cite streaming data but it must have taken a big hit given the HUGE ratings the live telecasts delivered TVNZ 1.

Saturday’s live All Blacks loss averaged 23.7% of 25-54 year-olds and 19.3% of 18-49s, and Sunday’s South Africa vs Wales clash, 10.6% and 8.2% of these core commercial demographics.

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11 Responses to “TVNZ 1 to Air All Blacks Match Post-Spark”


  1. Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier '/' in /home/customer/www/screenscribe.net/public_html/wp-content/themes/headlines/includes/theme-comments.php on line 66
     October 29, 2019 at 9:27 pm

    Is anyone else feeling excited about The Mandalorian on Disney+? It looks amazing going by the new trailer but it’s a shame we have to wait an extra week but still there will be 2 episodes to watch. Just have to stay away from spoilers 🙂

  2. October 30, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    @Trevor Nope. Most likely won’t subscribe to Disney.

  3. October 30, 2019 at 2:48 pm

    @Paul AW, why not? They have got some really good movies and TV shows especially with Marvel and Star Wars 🙂 I notice HBO Max have announced their shows now. I wonder if they will come to New Zealand as well. I see they will have Doctor Who 🙂

  4. Philip October 30, 2019 at 3:54 pm

    I wouldn’t expect HBO Max in a hurry. While their global expansion plans cited Europe and Latin America, NZ and Australia weren’t mentioned. And with a monthly sub of nearly $30, I don’t think our market would be lucrative enough to jeopardise the WB/HBO deals with TVNZ and Sky.

  5. October 30, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    Actually I think most people are surprised that New Zealand and Australia are among the first to get Disney+ so I’m not holding my breath over HBO Max but still I bet Sky are feeling worried about it 🙂

  6. October 30, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    I’ll probably subscribe to it as the kids will be losing the Disney Channel, but I’m not excited about it at all. It’s just more fragmentation of the market and more $’s to pay for the same shows I was already getting.

  7. October 30, 2019 at 10:31 pm

    Disney+ have a lot more than the Disney Channel on Sky would ever have including LIVE events, not sure what they are, and of course there is Star Wars and Marvel. I hope they put Zorro on there, I grew up watching Zorro 🙂

  8. October 31, 2019 at 5:18 pm

    I do not wish to get into a back and forth, Sky has the Marvel and ‘possibly’ the Star Wars movies through to late 2020, so apart from the platform exclusives (the new cable wars) it’s just an additional cost to bare.

  9. November 1, 2019 at 8:00 am

    I think you are wrong Darren but we will see in 19 days or before if Disney releases a list for what New Zealand can expect on launch day. I think we will definitely get more Marvel movies than the USA anyway and most of the Star Wars movies 🙂

  10. November 1, 2019 at 10:55 am

    This article is about rugby, please keep the Disney shilling to the relevant article/s.

  11. November 17, 2019 at 11:45 pm

    Di$ney is buying everything under the sun, maybe they will buy the rugby rights. 😀

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