New Zealand’s Sky Television is spending €37 million on the acquisition of RugbyPass, which runs a live streaming rugby service across Asia, Australia and Europe.
Dublin-based RugbyPass reaches 40 million rugby fans a month and is the rights holder of SANZAAR, the international competition involving Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 62 countries across Asia and Europe, including 39 exclusively.
“RugbyPass has established itself as an important player in the sport streaming world. It has the ability to reach rugby fans in markets that are not currently well-served with rugby content, and a strong growth plan for more markets,” said chief executive Martin Stewart. “Sky’s investment will support that growth plan, including by leveraging our capabilities of developing rugby communities and providing high quality and engaging rugby content.
Sky, which is completely separate to Comcast’s European company has been bolstering its rugby coverage against telephony provider Spark. On Wednesday it launched the Sky Sport Now app that gives online access to Sky Sport channels online within New Zealand.
“We’re delighted to be joining the Sky family. RugbyPass was created as a market disruptor to help bring rugby to a younger, internet savvy audience on a global scale. Rugby is a growth sport globally and we estimate there are 120 million rugby fans around the world, many of them in developing rugby markets where rugby is a secondary sport and access to content can be difficult,” said Tim Martin, chief executive, RugbyPass.
Launched in 2016, RugbyPass broadcasts live in 63 countries and is the largest publisher of Rugby content in the world.
