More than 50 per cent of NRL players have Pasifika heritage and now the audiences who have long shaped the game can watch it on their own screens, through their own local broadcasters, for free.
Free TV Australia has announced an agreement for PacificAus TV to deliver NRL matches to its Pacific partner broadcasters, expanding the availability of live and free-to-air coverage of Australia's most popular football competition to communities across the region.
PacificAus TV currently shares the best of Australian television with 18 free-to-air broadcasters in 12 nations across eight time zones and this agreement brings a powerful new dimension to that reach - audiences in Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue and Timor-Leste will have access to two live NRL matches and one delayed match each week through their local free-to-air broadcasters. Fiji and Papua New Guinea have pre-existing broadcast arrangements in place.
Players of Pasifika heritage comprise 52 per cent of all NRL talent, and 29 per cent have at least one parent born in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga or other Pacific islands.
The diversity at the elite level is reflected all the way down to grassroots participation, with players from hundreds of nations coming together to play the sport.
According to figures from the 2025 season, more than 13,000 club rugby league players were born in the Pacific.
"Free TV is very proud to deliver the PacificAus TV initiative as a key component of Australia's Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy, and this agreement for the NRL is a perfect expression of what the initiative is for," Free TV Australia CEO Bridget Fair said.
"Rugby league is deeply woven into the fabric of Pacific life, and PacificAus TV is uniquely placed to deliver world-class sport through trusted local channels – ensuring communities from the Cook Islands and Niue to Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and beyond can enjoy this premium programming at no cost.
"We look forward to deepening cultural and community ties with our Pacific partners through the shared language of rugby league."
PacificAus TV Director Shane Wood said: “In the recent NRL Annual Report 2025, Rugby League again confirmed its position as the biggest sport in Australia and the Pacific - with record audiences, record attendance, and record participation.
"We are proud that fans across the Pacific can now watch the world's best rugby league live, for free, through their own local broadcasters.”
