TVNZ is has announced its plans for its Rugby World Cup coverage.

The state broadcaster announced its commentary, presenting and news team today and they are clearly nicely placed to win the ratings war that is about to explode around the tournament.

With Sky Television, Maori Television and TV3 all having rights to the tournament the battle for the television audience will come down to points of difference.

Today’s announcement included:

• All Blacks great Jeff Wilson will be the broadcaster’s expert comments man.
• The award winning sports journalist Andrew Saville will be the lead commentator.
• Martin Devlin will front the World Cup coverage
• A new panel based show, Rugby World Cup 2011 – Tonight will air every match night.

“We needed to approach the Rugby World Cup with a fresh presentation,” TVNZ’s General Manager of Sport, Murray Needham said.

“With these key people on board I am anticipating that we will deliver an event which will be both informative and entertaining.”

Simon Dallow will be a regular guest on Rugby World Cup 2011- Tonight which will be hosted by Devlin and he’s excited by the groundwork put in by TVNZ’s executives.

“When New Zealand bid for the tournament they talked about a stadium of four million people,” he said. “Well, with the resources that TVNZ has, we will be able to take the Rugby World Cup to those four million. It’s hugely exciting for everyone involved.”

Epic tackle

That’s right, just 48 weeks to go – and counting down – to the start of Rugby World Cup 2011!

New Zealanders around the country are anxiously preparing for the biggest event to have hit Aotearoa in quite some time – if ever! Rugby fans are preparing to share in the atmosphere and excitement of the biggest sporting event of the year. Volunteers are waiting to get their uniforms on and make new friends from around the world. Not wanting to be left out, Maori Television announces its plans for 48 weeks’ time!

“Maori Television will ensure that no-one will miss the opportunity to see all 48 matches” said Maori Television chief executive Jim Mather on the eve of 48 weeks to kick-off.

For those who can’t be at the matches in person, Maori Television will screen all 48 matches of Rugby World Cup 2011, free-to-air, for viewers across Aotearoa to experience in the comfort of their living rooms, garages, sport clubs, kitchens, marae – pretty much anywhere!

Sixteen matches – including all the All Black matches – will be shown LIVE and free to air on Maori Television. The remaining matches will have a delayed screening.

Anywhere you can see Maori Television, you will get all 48 matches for free! And, as a bonus you will get about five to 10 per cent of the commentary in te reo Maori.

“We believe that the inclusion of te reo, will add to the uniqueness of the Maori Television broadcast,” says Jim Mather. “For anyone who wants the full experience of this amazing tournament, viewers need simply lock their remotes on Maori Television.”

Maori Television is looking forward to the company of rugby fans in 336 sleeps time.

The MP for Waiariki – Te Ururoa Flavell – says misinformation, mischief making and an appeal to racial prejudice are fuelling the debate around the Maori Television bid for ‘free-to-air’ television coverage of the rugby world cup in Aotearoa.

“Here are the facts around the situation:
1 Sky TV, TV One and TV3 put in a joint bid for the tv coverage and their bid was rejected
2 They then put in separate bids but co-operated on price, and those too were rejected
3 Sky TV bid for and won the pay tv rights
4 The three networks above did NOT include MTS in any of their approaches
5 While there were NO bids on the table for free to air coverage MTS put together a solo bid
6 If the Maori Television Service bid is successful it will trigger a contract whereby MTS will deliver certain outcomes to Te Puni Kokiri over the next three years
7 The contract is NOT a grant or a subsidy but a purchase agreement – on the other hand TVNZ has enjoyed tens of millions of dollars of grants and subsidies from the taxpayer in its life time, TV3 is a straight out commercial broadcaster whose role is to maximise its profits for its shareholders, it has NO allegiance to the public of New Zealand, MTS is a public channel controlled by a satute of Parliament
8 There is NO single channel in the country which has 100% ‘free-to-air’ coverage – but if MTS is successful it has two years to improve its already 90% coverage and there are many ways to do that
9 Unlike the other networks MTS has offered to share coverage through sub-licensing arrangements

“Those are the facts. The reality is that the so-called ‘big boys’ ignored MTS and tried to have the International Rugby Board on and the IRB called their bluff. MTS on the other hand cleverly put together a deal and a stand alone bid which has considerable mileage in it for Maori, in fact for all New Zealanders.”

“Since they discovered how credible the MTS bid is and that they have been blind-sided by the channel they ignored, TVNZ and TV3 are trying hard to discredit the bid and have been working on politicians who are more than willing to put the boot into anything Maori.”

“I’m hoping fair-minded kiwis having seen the facts laid out will see that there is a fair degree of ‘sour grapes’ here and people crying foul after being caught short. I’m also hoping they’ll remember the good work MTS has done with meagre resources to bring ANZAC day and the Breakers and other programmes to the nation. Kia ora.”