The Plus500 Brumbies will have a new broadcasting home from 2021, after Rugby Australia struck a deal with the Nine Network and streaming service Stan today, Monday 9 November.

The three-year partnership will show Saturday Night’s Rugby AU match live and free-to-air on the Nine Network and Nine Now, while all other matches will be shown ad-free on Stan.

Rugby Australia CEO Rob Clarke said he was pleased to see the partnership go ahead, which would benefit the sport as a whole.

“This is a landmark broadcast arrangement for Rugby Australia that will usher in a new era for our game,” he said.  

“It is a superior deal than our current domestic deal in both cash and contra and, of course, for the first time in Super Rugby history, free-to-air television exposure.”

Previously, Rugby AU games have been played across Fox Sports and Foxtel, as well as Network Ten in the past five years.

The broadcasting deal will also see all the 2021 Bledisloe Cup games live on Stan, along with the Rugby Championship and all inbound tests for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

Channel Nine CEO Hugh said the broadcast deal was another part of the network’s expansion strategy.

“We have an amazing news and current affairs business … obviously with entertainment we have the benefit of Nine, Nine Now and Stan,” he said. 

“This is a major investment for us in the third critical part of that content matrix, which is sport.”

“We have some pretty exciting thoughts and concepts around how we are going to bring some new things to the coverage of rugby which I won’t release now.”

The live streaming and sporting announcement is a first for Stan, with the streaming service CEO Mike Sneesby announcing there was more to come.

“This is a model that makes sense now and will continue to make sense into the future. We are delighted to announce this partnership today, as Stan prepares to launch live streaming in 2021,” he said.

“We will be launching sports as an add-on on Stan; more details will be released as we launch but it will be an add-on package to our entertainment package.”

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