Sky Host Broadcaster for World Netball Champs

Media Release
15 September, 2006

Sky Confirmed as Host Broadcaster for World Netball Championships

The International Netball Federation Limited (IFNA) confirmed today that it has signed a deal with SKY Television to be the host broadcaster of The 2007 World Netball Championships. Under the agreement SKY Television and TVNZ will jointly hold the New Zealand rights to the event.

As host broadcaster, SKY Television will provide LIVE coverage of 32 games, and the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as highlights from the remaining games.

TVNZ will also broadcast the tournament on TVONE, with focus in particular on New Zealand world champions the Silver Ferns.

SKY’s CEO, John Fellet, says “SKY is very pleased to acquire the rights to this event. We recognise that there is huge interest in netball throughout the country and are delighted to be able to provide comprehensive coverage of this prestigious event.”

TVNZ’s CEO, Rick Ellis says, “We are delighted to be part of what will be extensive coverage across many platforms, in keeping with the status of this event in the minds of New Zealanders”.

President of IFNA, Molly Rhone says, "We are delighted to announce SKY TV as the host broadcaster and territory rights holder for New Zealand for Netball's premier world event. This relationship with SKY is a new and significant step for the sport globally, and will add a different dimension to the coverage in New Zealand of the 2007 World Championships.

“We realise the immense popularity of netball in New Zealand and are excited about working with SKY and TVNZ to deliver an excellent broadcasting product to the New Zealand domestic market and to the growing international audiences," continues Mrs Rhone.

The 2007 World Netball Championships will take place in Suva, Fiji, from 10th - 21st July at the Multipurpose sports hall in Laucala Sports City.

ENDS

About IFNA
International Netball Federation Limited ("IFNA") is the sole governing body for Netball throughout the world. Membership of IFNA is open to national netball associations and currently IFNA has 41 members grouped into 5 Regions - Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania - each with their own Regional Federation.

Regional Federations are an integral part of IFNA and assist in the implementation of IFNA policies in their respective regions.

IFNA is responsible for the Rules of Netball, a game played by in excess of 7 million people worldwide. Within the Commonwealth, Netball has more active participants than any other sport.

About SKY Television
SKY Television (SKY), broadcasting via both UHF and DTH is New Zealand’s pre-eminent Pay TV operator, offering a wide range of sports, movies, music, on-demand and general content across more than 80 channels. SKY’s channel line-up includes 6 sports channels, 5 movie channels, 7 general entertainment channels, 4 documentary channels, 3 news channels, 4 children’s channels, as well as other niche channels. (At 18 August 2006, SKY had 667,270 subscribers).

SKY launched as a three-channel UHF service in 1990, with two further channels added four years later. SKY’s UHF signal reaches more than 83% of the country’s 1.5 million households. In December 1998 it launched a digital satellite service, extending its reach to the whole country. SKY also offers pay-per-view movies, live events and interactive services including Skybet, the Weather Channel, and games channels Mind Games and Playin’ TV.

With the establishment of a new on line DVD rental service and in December 2005, the launch of MY SKY, a new set top box incorporating a personal video recorder, SKY is positioned to bring New Zealand viewers even more entertainment options.

On 8 February 2006, SKY completed the purchase of the New Zealand television business of Prime Television Ltd. The acquisition of a free-to-air channel gives SKY the opportunity to showcase its channels and programmes whilst ensuring that New Zealand consumers can view delayed free-to-air sports programmes such as rugby, rugby league and cricket in primetime.

For further information, please visit SKY’s web site at www.skytv.co.nz

ENDS

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