Spark hooks Black Sticks to add to sports line-up
Spark has picked up the broadcasting rights for the FIH Hockey event series, including all Vantage Black Sticks men’s and women’s competitions.
The broadband and phone company said it would produce and be the host broadcaster for all FIH (International Hockey Federation) Pro League matches played in New Zealand, in partnership with production company NEP New Zealand.
The four-year deal marks Spark’s first move into sports production. It said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange that the move demonstrated its ambition to become ‘‘a key player in the local sports market’’.
It said it will announce more sports rights in coming weeks.
Last month Spark announced it had secured the New Zealand rights to the Formula One championship, starting with the Australian Grand Prix in March.
Spark first threw down the gauntlet to Sky Television in April when it announced it had won the rights to next year’s Rugby World Cup in Tokyo.
Then in August it won the rights to English Premier League matches for three seasons, starting from next August.
Spark will launch a new sports streaming service, Spark Sport, early next year to deliver the programming, Spark chief financial officer David Chalmers said.
US firm iStreamPlanet, a subsidiary of WarnerMedia, would be providing the technology for Spark Sport, he said.
Plans and pricing have yet to be disclosed.
But Spark spokeswoman Ellie Cross has indicated the company might have enough sports content for it to offer all its sports for a single price as well as letting customers – who need not be Spark broadband customers – subscribe to watch individual events and competitions.