Telstra BigPond today announced it will provide free live streaming of Round 1 Premiership matches into the United Kingdom, Canada, USA, South Africa, South America and Europe to promote its ongoing international subscription service.
Following on from the most exciting build-up to an NRL season in memory, fans in those markets will be able to view all eight Telstra Premiership matches for free live on NRL.com via http://bigpondvideo.com/nrlliveuk.
Fans in Italy will be able to access live streaming to all matches except the Monday night clash between Wests Tigers and Manly, while fans in the USA will be able to access every match except the clash between the Bulldogs and Knights.
From Round 2, a live pay-per-view internet service of Telstra Premiership matches will available via omnisporttv for a fee of $US 5.95 per match.
All international supporters will also be able to subscribe to video streaming of Telstra Premiership matches on 24-hour-delay through the Aussie Sport TV subscription service (www.aussiesport.tv) for a fee of $US1.95 for a four-day pass and $US 59.95 for 12 months.
The NRL has today confirmed international broadcast deals for the 2010 season with Skysport in New Zealand (www.skysport.co.nz), the Australian Network (www.australianetwork.com) in the Asia Pacific region, EMTV in Papua New Guinea, Orbit Showtime Network (www.orbitshowtime.com) in the Middle East and Dahlia TV (www.dahliatv.it) in Italy.
The NRL is continuing to negotiate with broadcasters in other parts of the world.
“The Telstra Premiership has a huge support base internationally and we wanted to ensure those fans had an opportunity to watch the opening round of NRL matches live,” NRL Chief Operating Officer, Mr Graham Annesley, said today.
“There remains strong interest from international broadcasters to televise NRL matches this year and we will continue to work with them to try and service our overseas fans.”
International fans can continue to access radio broadcasts at no charge through NRL.com