Melodie Robinson: Sports, Events and Partnerships Head at TVNZ on TVNZ securing broadcast rights for ANZ Premiership

After many years on Sky, the ANZ Premiership is set to return to TVNZ for the 2026 season.

A one-season broadcast deal has officially been confirmed, with the competition to remain in the current two-round format.

Sports, Events and Partnerships Head at TVNZ, Melodie Robinson, says this is good news - as there's still a massive fanbase for netball.

"We're really excited that all of the ANZ championship's going to be with us next year."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now netball is returning to free to air on TV
and Z next year after many years on Sky. The
a Z Premiership will be've shown on TV and Z
two and TV and Z Plus. There are questions so
over how much has been paid here? Who's paying who? Here?
Is Netbull's Jenny Wiley speaking to Mike this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Netborn New Zealand is investing in this and it's a
changing market. The broadcast market is different traditional media, and
you know, rights fees have moved and there is more
risk in the market. We're willing to step into that
because we know and we believe that the game has
a future.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Melody Robinson is TV and z's head of Sports Events
and Partnerships and with.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Us, he Melody, good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, this is great for you guys to have all
of us extra sport, Isn't it.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Look absolutely fantastic. We had the Saturday Games exclusive this
am ZT for ten weeks around Robin and what we
found was that that audience coming in was double the
normal audience we get from four to six on Saturday.
So we know there's still a massive fan base out
there for netball and we're really excited that all of
the am Z Championship is going to be with us

(01:05):
next year.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Who watches.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Actually, there's a high female population that watches it. About
twenty four percent of our TV and Z plus audience
is under the age of thirty four. That is a
good youth audience as well. I guess one thing you
can say about that is females are the most powerful consumers.
So it's a great audience for us.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, is it teenage girls and their mums?

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Basically no, it's an older female audience at this point.
But when you think about how we're going to have
everything on TV two and TVNZ's TVNZ's Plus, that is
brings in a much younger audience opportunity. We've also got
an incredible social media team and that news machine that's
going to bring back those personalities and the stories of

(01:49):
the athletes. So we know that it's going to bring
more interest in the game and the audience on TVNZV.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
This is great news because this is one of my
bug bears is that sports nowadays has dropped good yarns
out of it. Right, you don't even know who the
person is who's playing, so you guys going to promote that,
promote their backstories.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
One hundred percent. And you know Netball used to have
a massive audience when they had a mass mail fan
base watching them as well, and that is what we're
really going to aim at bringing back, and it is
it's about telling those awesome athletes stories, but you've got to.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Tell about the drama between them as well, Like you've
got to be like this player hates that player because
they stole that one's husband, like stuff like that's important.
Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, well i'll tell you about you know, TVNZ. We've
got a commissioning team that does a whole lot of
shoulder content and we do entertainment very well. So we
could have a silver fern on I don't know, one
of our reality TV shows, or we could come up
with a new concept. So yet we're looking into all
those two.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Are you paying Netball New Zealand the rights fee?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Obviously boring answer commercial deals, we never talk about the details,
but what we can say is we're bringing a massive
marketing machine.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
It isn't the melody the answers know, isn't it You
are not paying them anything for the saale.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, we're certainly going to extend the value for the
sponsors that they bring on board. So I think that
that's going to generate some really good revenue.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
So then tell me how this works. The cake is
normally back in the old days, like old days, like
as in before twenty twenty five, what would happen as
SkyTV or whoever would pay Netble New Zealand for the
right to broadcast the sport. You guys are now not
paying them. It's basically a freebie for you. They are
putting the money into production, is what you want?

Speaker 3 (03:25):
What I certainly didn't confirm that.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Oh no, you might have confirm that. We know that,
but we're not stupid. We've worked it out. So there
is now no money going to Netball New Zealand. In fact,
it costs them now to put this on Telly. So
how do they get money out of this? Are you
splitting advertising?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
No?

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well, let's put it this way. The value of sports
rights depends on the audience. And for the last a
very very large number of years, and they've always been
behind a payable with a lot of competition.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Stop, no stop, we've got to have no stop melody.
You've got as your phone's going off on you? Oh
this noisy stop it tsunami advisor. Oh now I can't
see it. Oh, there we go, tsunami advisory. Strong and
unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore because of
an earthquake and Russia. Alody, don't go swimming. Okay, no,
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Going to go. I'm actually by the harbor. So this
is not a good thing.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, get away. I can tell me quickly, how's it
going to work? So if you hit a certain number
of audience you start coughing up. Does it work like that?

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Then absolutely? That's how you value you write, so building
the audience. This is a long term play. More audience,
more value. So I think this is a great most
new Zellamy wile to come with us.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Good stuff, okay, best of like being near the water
their melody, Thanks for that, Melody Robinson Tiviz its head
of Sports Events and Partnerships. I don't know if she
just realized what she did. She's like, I'm not confirming
that tsunami alert. I confirmed it. Oh well, we're all
excited about that. So anyway, there we go. So we're
going to talk to Darcy about that when he's with
us shortly, because this is a massive deal for netball.

(04:56):
I feel like a lot of players. I mean I
say this with some sadness. I feel like, if you're
not watching netball, they haven't got any money. Now they're
literally having to pay to put it on TV. That's
a sad thing. That means netball players are going to
have to go, like professional netball players in this country
are going to have to go get jobs. For more
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(05:19):
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