Nine today announced that it will go head-to-head with Kayo with the launch of its own sports-focused streaming service, Stan Sport. Details are still scarce, but Nine has reached an in-principle agreement to sign a long-term deal with Rugby Australia. We also understand that Stan Sport will be part of Stan, rather than a secondary standalone streaming service.
As a result, Stan Sport will become the home of Super Rugby, Super W, Wallaroos games, Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, Mitre 10 & Currie Cup, plus SANZAAR Union home games. Nine will also broadcast all Wallabies Test matches played in Australia and New Zealand, plus a selection of Super Rugby on free-to-air for those who don't subscribe.
In addition, Stan Sport will also feature archival content comprising "the greatest moments in Australia rugby history".
Nine is planning to invest in additional exclusive sports rights, in a move which could potentially hurt Foxtel. Foxtel previously had a five-year deal with Rugby Australia which expired this year, and presumably, beat out by Nine when it came to renegotiating. More broadly, Foxtel is Australia's biggest spender on sports right media, so further investment by Nine could shake up the status quo.
Nine has also yet to detail pricing - whether you'll need to pay extra to bundle Stan Sport on top of your Stan subscription - but the service will launch in 2021. Stan subscriptions are billed between $10 and $19 per month, depending on the quality and number of simultaneous streams a customer is after. For comparison, Foxtel's streaming sport service Kayo is billed at either $25 or $35 per month, depending on the number of simultaneous streams.
Alex Choros
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