After a two-year hiatus, Network Ten is returning to the netball court after agreeing to a new broadcast deal with Netball Australia and Fox Sports for coverage of the ANZ Championship. For the last two seasons, the ANZ Championship has been broadcast on Fox Sports and SBS TWO.
Under the terms of the two-year deal, all 72 games of the ANZ Championship will be broadcast on Fox Sports and Sunday afternoon’s Match Of The Round simulcast LIVE on ONE. In further good news for Australian netball fans, the new broadcast deal will see:
- the new Conference Finals and ANZ Championship Finals Series; and
- Australian Diamonds’ International Test Series matches played in Australia and New Zealand,
broadcast on Fox Sports and Network Ten (it is unclear if these matches will be on ONE or Channel Ten).
ANZ Championship General Manager, Andy Crook, said:
“Our new Australian broadcast partnership with FOX SPORTS and Network Ten will deliver a record number of matches in 2015 with more than 175 hours of ANZ Championship broadcasts.”
Coverage of the trans-tasman netball tournament will be led by commentator Kelli Underwood and feature former Diamonds Captains Liz Ellis and Sharelle McMahon, and recently retired Australian goal shooter Catherine Cox.
The news of the new broadcast deal follows Network Ten’s announcement late last year that it will broadcast all of the Australian Diamonds’ 2015 Netball World Cup matches on Channel Ten or ONE, with their pool match against the New Zealand Silver Ferns, their predicted semi-final clash and potential gold medal match to be shown live on Channel Ten.
Fox Sports will cover all matches of the 2015 Netball World Cup.
The 2015 ANZ Championship gets underway on Saturday, February 28 when the Adelaide Thunderbirds host the Kia Magic at Adelaide’s Netball SA Stadium. ONE’s coverage commences on Sunday, March 1, when the Queensland Firebirds take on the West Coast Fever at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.