The SKY Network Television Ltd (ASX: SKT) share price could climb higher this morning after the network announced a new deal for the Rugby World Cup 2019.
What did SKY announce this morning?
Spark Sport and SKY announced that commercial premises that want to show Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2019 will be able to buy access to a Spark Sport pop-up channel on their SKY decoder.
This is in addition to Spark Sport's existing offer to commercial customers to stream RWC matches from the Spark Sport app over their broadband connection.
According to the announcement, this option gives both consumer and commercial customers access to all 48 matches live and on-demand, plus access to a range of highlights and archive matches.
Additionally, from today, SKY commercial customers can buy access to a Spark Sport RWC pop-up channel through SKY, which includes all 48 matches live.
SKY said that commercial customers can access the pop-up channel for a one-off cost at commercial rates, and while rates are confidential, they reflect the quality and scale of the event.
Under the terms of the partnership, Spark will cover the costs of SKY establishing the pop-up channel and will receive all related revenue from SKY commercial customers.
David Chalmers, Executive Lead for Spark Sport, explained, "After testing in a wide range of commercial environments, we are confident in the Spark Sport streaming service that we are making available for commercial premises."
He also added, "we also wanted to provide an alternative option for venues that would prefer to use their existing infrastructure, particularly for those locations without streaming-ready broadband connectivity."
"This partnership with SKY means that commercial businesses which already have SKY set up in their premises have options for how they screen the tournament, to ensure that as many commercial premises around New Zealand as possible can show the Rugby World Cup in its entirety."
What does this mean for the SKY Network share price?
The SKY share price closed at $1.18 per share on Monday afternoon, and despite edging higher during the day's trade, remains very close to its $1.10 per share 52-week low.
The SKY share price has fallen 59% so far this year, despite a record start to the year for the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) index, as the New Zealand-based broadcaster lost out to Spark for the Rugby World Cup 2019 rights and broader headwinds in the media industry have sent the share price lower.
