September 11, 2024 • 10 mins
TVNZ GM of Sports and Events Melodie Robinson joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss the NZ Breakers free to air deal.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncie Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Big news today for free to wear sport. The news
to come out that TVNZ Plus have got their hands
on the Breakers were joined now by tvn z's GM
of Sports and Events, Mel Robinson. Welcome to the show.
I expect you're smarting from ear to ear and now
you've managed to nab the Breakers.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm so excited. We all know basketball is a sport
that young kids play in New Zealand and it's super
popular with those younger age groups and that means we're
going to get them into our TV and Z plus
platform and hopefully get them watching more Breakers.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So I think the big thing around this mal is
the breakdown with Sky and the ability to provide the
production on the ground as opposed to what you pick
up from over in Australia. So the production at TV
and Z providing that. Are you parting cameras and people
(01:08):
on the ground to do this.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's a partnership with ESPN, so they own the rights
so they will be producing it. They contract a company
to do that and then they will hire any peace
So we still have the new Zealand crew doing the
production on the ground, but it goes through to Melbourne.
They put commentary on it from over in Melbourne and
(01:32):
then it gets set back to us. So it's pretty complicated.
But with Stoke that we're in a partnership with ESPN
because this is the first time, you know, we've done
something like that's with them.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So what's different that you are bought that's different to
what Sky we're getting out to how's that altered?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Look? I think that Sky's probably thinking about some of
the other big rights that are coming to market as well,
and you've got to be really careful with what you
spend your money on. So I mean, you'd have to
bring them to find out the answer to that. But
the cool thing is that that opens up opportunity for
tvn Z and partnering with people like espen. Don't forget
(02:12):
that ESPN is still on the Sky platforms, so they'll
have all the NBL games on the two ESPN channels
and they'll probably have the breakers. I haven't seen the
schedule yet, not sure if they're going to put them
up live against US. So I think actually Sky has
probably got the best of both worlds there, so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
You're getting both home and away games on TVNZ plus
free to wear.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That's how I want all Breakers games all live on
tvn Z plus, also on Duke. We'll have a couple
of those on Duke slightly delayed because essentially we've got
Super Smash on at the same time over the summer,
so you can be watching Super Smash on Duke and
then straight away you'll get the Breakers game. If the
(02:53):
cricket finishes early, then the Breakers game will be live
on Duke.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So Mel when it comes to cost, not going to
give me details, but did you pay for this, did
this come out of the budget or what's the deal there.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
We've been creative with how we've partnered with ESPN, That's
how I'll put it. We never talk about how much
money we put on the table, but you know it's
going to be really a healthy deal for tvn Z
because we're still going to get advertising revenue out of it.
We're looking for a broadcast sponsor. But most importantly, I
love basketball, so to my kids, I go to the
games anyway, I pay for my tickets. So I'm just
(03:27):
excited that we've got a sport like the Breakers on
our platform. Back to back with Cricket all summer.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Nol Robinson TV and sid's general manager of Sports and Events.
Just going back to the production itself, can you assure
us that it will be the same quality that Breakers
fans have experienced in previous years?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
One hundred percent. You've got the same crew, the same
camera guys, same directors. It will be really high quality.
And why wouldn't it be. If ESPN has taken control
of it, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So you're losing money at TVNZ, we all know that.
So how much of this is a move for you
to get more eye and maybe even disrupt Sky with
the attack on free to wear sport that you're currently waging.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Look, our sports are strategy at the moment, In fact,
our content strategy. We're only signing up things that make
us money. It's as simple as that. And so what
you could estimate there is that a product like The
Breakers is going to be positive for TVNZ in terms
of revenue. We are always getting the audiences, so our
(04:36):
driver is not about getting audiences in as much as
making sure they're also pretending our revenue. So this is
a good business decision to partner with ESPN.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So as far as the revenue now's manifested, How does
that work? Are we looking at advertisements being thrown in
between quarters? Is it going to interrupt the quality of
their viewing for the listen? How do you wrap around
a way to monetize it that doesn't interrupt the live
viewing or are you intending on doing that now?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
We're super careful. All was how we serve ads. I
don't know if you've watched a lot of our sports
over the last few years that we learnt the hard
way when we had Commonwealth Games back in twenty eighteen
that you're going to be really selective and careful about
where you put the ads in sports. So what we're
doing with the breakers is we're taking the natural breaks
that you are already used to and we'll be popping
(05:26):
our ads in those. So that's after every quarter, and
there's one one minute time out break in the final
quarter that we can also pop an add in. So
you're not going to notice any extra advert load at all.
Will be exactly the same as you've seen them past.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well, we just might not hear the coaches f bombing.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Well that's a good thing, isn't it. I'm not sure
if the Breakers coach. This year's going to f bomb
that much, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So yeah, you're taking on the Sky TV with us
free to wear, and you look at everything you've got.
It's an attempt to maybe remove people's subs to really
hit Sky where it hurts. If they can get so
much free to we at sporting product, it's got to
be a worry to them.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Look, we're actually not about taking Sky down, and we're
really sort of just focusing on ourselves. So if we
have opportunities that come to us and they work for us,
we're going to say yes. I think we have a
really strong content strategy now where sports and entertainment and
news are all together in terms of priority. So we're
(06:33):
regarding sports as just the same opportunity as an entertainment product,
a news product, and we're just lucky enough to have
a couple of them coming across the table lately.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Met Robinson, what about rugby? Have you got eyes on that?
Because the deal's coming up with Sky and what about
the A League's a lot of interest around that and
where that ends up landing. Now there are two relevant
teams within the A League, So what space you when
it comes to possibly lassoing in those two sports.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Well, we can't pick up everything, so we've had to
be really careful about who negotiating with and who were
putting offers down on the table. So the Breakers was
our priority, as was ANYFL, which is the other one
that we did a soft launch on the weekend. We've
got that through to the Super Bowl as well. We're
probably not going to look at too much else over
(07:25):
the next financial year, which is through to June next year,
because we've got so much at the moment. So we're
pretty settled with where we are in terms of rugby.
You know, I love rugby, but that's an exclusive negotiation
right now with SkyTV, and I'm pretty sure that is
one that they'll certainly want to keep on their platform,
no doubt about that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, and we know how can you on rugby, Being
of course the national representative for a time, that's not
lost on all of us. So they NFL things interesting
as well. Is that merely a hangover from what Sparksports
signed up.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
To It was, but this was a new deal. We
saw amazing results on our platform, particularly for so Well,
but we've got some really good lead in from the
playoff games as well last year, so we knew that
this one again is a sport that brings in those
younger demographics and male demographics, young females as well. The
(08:19):
Super Bowl. We had so many new sign ups on
the day of Super Bowl last year that we thought
that this is definitely one that we wanted to resign.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's the swift effect. So you see before, you're not
chasing anything else, but the A League is that hovering?
Is that even a possibility if you can find some
more money.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Look that I don't know what the A League is doing,
So you've got to have a ring ring up Nick
the CEO and see what they're doing. That's what I
would say there.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Do you want to flick me his number? You must
have a direct cell phone.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, I know Ali very well. He's one of the owners,
so I'm sure that they're beving around in the background
to try and sew up their deal.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And I'll finish on this and Mal Robinson, tiven Z's
sport and events general manager, thure is this move towards
sport maybe the last hope for terrestrial television.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, actually it drives audience to the digital platform. So
for Euros we had round about seven million streams on
the Euros. It was unbelievably successful for TV and Z Plus,
So sport is actually a mechanism to push New Zealand
audiences onto our platform, and our whole strategy is about
(09:36):
moving everything to TV and Z plus and digital over
the next five years or so. So you know, we
see big sports events has been very successful. We know
we've got to keep our broadcast TV linear still going
because a lot of our sports rights holders want to
be on normal terrestrial TV because lots of people are
still there. So that's why we've got the breakers for
(09:58):
instance on Jerke, That's why super Smashes on Jerk, It's
hy T twenty's are on Television one because we're still
picking up massive audiences. So TV broadcast is not dead yet.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talk
zed B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncie Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Big news today for free to wear sport. The news
to come out that TVNZ Plus have got their hands
on the Breakers were joined now by tvn z's GM
of Sports and Events, Mel Robinson. Welcome to the show.
I expect you're smarting from ear to ear and now
you've managed to nab the Breakers.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm so excited. We all know basketball is a sport
that young kids play in New Zealand and it's super
popular with those younger age groups and that means we're
going to get them into our TV and Z plus
platform and hopefully get them watching more Breakers.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So I think the big thing around this mal is
the breakdown with Sky and the ability to provide the
production on the ground as opposed to what you pick
up from over in Australia. So the production at TV
and Z providing that. Are you parting cameras and people
(01:08):
on the ground to do this.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's a partnership with ESPN, so they own the rights
so they will be producing it. They contract a company
to do that and then they will hire any peace
So we still have the new Zealand crew doing the
production on the ground, but it goes through to Melbourne.
They put commentary on it from over in Melbourne and
(01:32):
then it gets set back to us. So it's pretty complicated.
But with Stoke that we're in a partnership with ESPN
because this is the first time, you know, we've done
something like that's with them.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So what's different that you are bought that's different to
what Sky we're getting out to how's that altered?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Look? I think that Sky's probably thinking about some of
the other big rights that are coming to market as well,
and you've got to be really careful with what you
spend your money on. So I mean, you'd have to
bring them to find out the answer to that. But
the cool thing is that that opens up opportunity for
tvn Z and partnering with people like espen. Don't forget
(02:12):
that ESPN is still on the Sky platforms, so they'll
have all the NBL games on the two ESPN channels
and they'll probably have the breakers. I haven't seen the
schedule yet, not sure if they're going to put them
up live against US. So I think actually Sky has
probably got the best of both worlds there, so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
You're getting both home and away games on TVNZ plus
free to wear.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That's how I want all Breakers games all live on
tvn Z plus, also on Duke. We'll have a couple
of those on Duke slightly delayed because essentially we've got
Super Smash on at the same time over the summer,
so you can be watching Super Smash on Duke and
then straight away you'll get the Breakers game. If the
(02:53):
cricket finishes early, then the Breakers game will be live
on Duke.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So Mel when it comes to cost, not going to
give me details, but did you pay for this, did
this come out of the budget or what's the deal there.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
We've been creative with how we've partnered with ESPN, That's
how I'll put it. We never talk about how much
money we put on the table, but you know it's
going to be really a healthy deal for tvn Z
because we're still going to get advertising revenue out of it.
We're looking for a broadcast sponsor. But most importantly, I
love basketball, so to my kids, I go to the
games anyway, I pay for my tickets. So I'm just
(03:27):
excited that we've got a sport like the Breakers on
our platform. Back to back with Cricket all summer.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Nol Robinson TV and sid's general manager of Sports and Events.
Just going back to the production itself, can you assure
us that it will be the same quality that Breakers
fans have experienced in previous years?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
One hundred percent. You've got the same crew, the same
camera guys, same directors. It will be really high quality.
And why wouldn't it be. If ESPN has taken control
of it, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So you're losing money at TVNZ, we all know that.
So how much of this is a move for you
to get more eye and maybe even disrupt Sky with
the attack on free to wear sport that you're currently waging.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Look, our sports are strategy at the moment, In fact,
our content strategy. We're only signing up things that make
us money. It's as simple as that. And so what
you could estimate there is that a product like The
Breakers is going to be positive for TVNZ in terms
of revenue. We are always getting the audiences, so our
(04:36):
driver is not about getting audiences in as much as
making sure they're also pretending our revenue. So this is
a good business decision to partner with ESPN.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So as far as the revenue now's manifested, How does
that work? Are we looking at advertisements being thrown in
between quarters? Is it going to interrupt the quality of
their viewing for the listen? How do you wrap around
a way to monetize it that doesn't interrupt the live
viewing or are you intending on doing that now?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
We're super careful. All was how we serve ads. I
don't know if you've watched a lot of our sports
over the last few years that we learnt the hard
way when we had Commonwealth Games back in twenty eighteen
that you're going to be really selective and careful about
where you put the ads in sports. So what we're
doing with the breakers is we're taking the natural breaks
that you are already used to and we'll be popping
(05:26):
our ads in those. So that's after every quarter, and
there's one one minute time out break in the final
quarter that we can also pop an add in. So
you're not going to notice any extra advert load at all.
Will be exactly the same as you've seen them past.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well, we just might not hear the coaches f bombing.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Well that's a good thing, isn't it. I'm not sure
if the Breakers coach. This year's going to f bomb
that much, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So yeah, you're taking on the Sky TV with us
free to wear, and you look at everything you've got.
It's an attempt to maybe remove people's subs to really
hit Sky where it hurts. If they can get so
much free to we at sporting product, it's got to
be a worry to them.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Look, we're actually not about taking Sky down, and we're
really sort of just focusing on ourselves. So if we
have opportunities that come to us and they work for us,
we're going to say yes. I think we have a
really strong content strategy now where sports and entertainment and
news are all together in terms of priority. So we're
(06:33):
regarding sports as just the same opportunity as an entertainment product,
a news product, and we're just lucky enough to have
a couple of them coming across the table lately.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Met Robinson, what about rugby? Have you got eyes on that?
Because the deal's coming up with Sky and what about
the A League's a lot of interest around that and
where that ends up landing. Now there are two relevant
teams within the A League, So what space you when
it comes to possibly lassoing in those two sports.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Well, we can't pick up everything, so we've had to
be really careful about who negotiating with and who were
putting offers down on the table. So the Breakers was
our priority, as was ANYFL, which is the other one
that we did a soft launch on the weekend. We've
got that through to the Super Bowl as well. We're
probably not going to look at too much else over
(07:25):
the next financial year, which is through to June next year,
because we've got so much at the moment. So we're
pretty settled with where we are in terms of rugby.
You know, I love rugby, but that's an exclusive negotiation
right now with SkyTV, and I'm pretty sure that is
one that they'll certainly want to keep on their platform,
no doubt about that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, and we know how can you on rugby, Being
of course the national representative for a time, that's not
lost on all of us. So they NFL things interesting
as well. Is that merely a hangover from what Sparksports
signed up.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
To It was, but this was a new deal. We
saw amazing results on our platform, particularly for so Well,
but we've got some really good lead in from the
playoff games as well last year, so we knew that
this one again is a sport that brings in those
younger demographics and male demographics, young females as well. The
(08:19):
Super Bowl. We had so many new sign ups on
the day of Super Bowl last year that we thought
that this is definitely one that we wanted to resign.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's the swift effect. So you see before, you're not
chasing anything else, but the A League is that hovering?
Is that even a possibility if you can find some
more money.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Look that I don't know what the A League is doing,
So you've got to have a ring ring up Nick
the CEO and see what they're doing. That's what I
would say there.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Do you want to flick me his number? You must
have a direct cell phone.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, I know Ali very well. He's one of the owners,
so I'm sure that they're beving around in the background
to try and sew up their deal.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And I'll finish on this and Mal Robinson, tiven Z's
sport and events general manager, thure is this move towards
sport maybe the last hope for terrestrial television.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, actually it drives audience to the digital platform. So
for Euros we had round about seven million streams on
the Euros. It was unbelievably successful for TV and Z Plus,
So sport is actually a mechanism to push New Zealand
audiences onto our platform, and our whole strategy is about
(09:36):
moving everything to TV and Z plus and digital over
the next five years or so. So you know, we
see big sports events has been very successful. We know
we've got to keep our broadcast TV linear still going
because a lot of our sports rights holders want to
be on normal terrestrial TV because lots of people are
still there. So that's why we've got the breakers for
(09:58):
instance on Jerke, That's why super Smashes on Jerk, It's
hy T twenty's are on Television one because we're still
picking up massive audiences. So TV broadcast is not dead yet.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talk
zed B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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