All Blacks

"By early 1992, with Sky’s subscriber numbers grinding upwards but not reaching forecasts, revenue consistently lower than expected, the company in debt and its shareholders still having to put in more money, Sky was desperate for some wins. Heatley was convinced that rugby was the answer. On 11 March 1992, his eye was caught by a short Australian Associated Press report from London in that day’s *New Zealand Herald*. Just three paragraphs long, the article said that the Cricket World Cup, which was at the time being hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and in which the England team was a favourite, was leading to bumper sales of satellite dishes in Britain. ‘The form of [England batsman] Graham Gooch and the England team have sparked tremendous interest in the cricket extravaganza, shown exclusively on satellite television station British Sky Broadcasting,’ the article said. ‘According to the latest figures by the *Financial Times* satellite monitor, sales of new dishes were 78,000 last month, up from 41,000 for the same period last year.’[4](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn27) This was exactly the evidence Heatley was looking for. He immediately fired a copy of it off to Nate Smith. ‘Nate, if the powers that be in America want any more evidence of what we need to do here, send them this,’ he wrote, attaching a copy of the AAP story.[5](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn28) If Sky could get exclusive rights to the All Blacks tour of Australia and South Africa it could attract another 20,000 to 30,000 subscribers at least, he added, seemingly making up numbers in his enthusiasm."

"By early 1992, with Sky’s subscriber numbers grinding upwards but not reaching forecasts, revenue consistently lower than expected, the company in debt and its shareholders still having to put in more money, Sky was desperate for some wins. Heatley was convinced that rugby was the answer. On 11 March 1992, his eye was caught by a short Australian Associated Press report from London in that day’s *New Zealand Herald*. Just three paragraphs long, the article said that the Cricket World Cup, which was at the time being hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and in which the England team was a favourite, was leading to bumper sales of satellite dishes in Britain. ‘The form of [England batsman] Graham Gooch and the England team have sparked tremendous interest in the cricket extravaganza, shown exclusively on satellite television station British Sky Broadcasting,’ the article said. ‘According to the latest figures by the *Financial Times* satellite monitor, sales of new dishes were 78,000 last month, up from 41,000 for the same period last year.’[4](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn27) This was exactly the evidence Heatley was looking for. He immediately fired a copy of it off to Nate Smith. ‘Nate, if the powers that be in America want any more evidence of what we need to do here, send them this,’ he wrote, attaching a copy of the AAP story.[5](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn28) If Sky could get exclusive rights to the All Blacks tour of Australia and South Africa it could attract another 20,000 to 30,000 subscribers at least, he added, seemingly making up numbers in his enthusiasm."

"Compelling sporting content, Heatley reckoned, would bring its own publicity. ‘Watch how much free publicity we get if we have exclusive All Blacks touring South Africa—and watch how many new subs we get,’ he urged. Sky should be budgeting in the expectation of buying exclusive rights to live coverage of the next rugby and cricket world cup competitions, along with rugby league and domestic rugby coverage. These events were critical. ‘We could have the best marketing in the world but if the product is not compelling we will not achieve the market penetrations that we can and thereby generate the profits that are there for Sky.’"

"On the eve of the 1995 World Cup final, the chairmen of the South Africa, Australia and New Zealand rugby unions called a press conference to announce the formation of SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby) and to make the shock announcement that Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corporation, would pay US$555 million over the following 10 years for exclusive rights to televise all international rugby tours to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia and a new competition between franchises that would be established in those countries. It was an astonishing sum of money for a code that had had no TV sponsorship until then. The figure stunned not only the rugby community but other sporting codes too. A final clincher in Murdoch’s enthusiasm seems to have been watching All Blacks star Jonah Lomu’s explosive game in the World Cup semi-final against England. Murdoch executive Sam Chisholm—who had helped open doors for Heatley and Jarvis when they were first signing up TV rights for Sky and who Murdoch had headhunted from Packer’s Channel Nine—says that in a call after that match Murdoch told him, ‘This is amazing. We’ve got to have that guy…’[5](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn38)"