Sky Open invites New Zealanders to enjoy free Friday Night Footy and Super Rugby Saturday - Sky

Good news, sports fans.  Sky is excited to be delivering more top-flight sport free-to-view in 2024 than ever before, with new Friday Night Footy for NRL and Super Saturday rugby matches launching on Sky Open from Saturday 24 February.

Friday Night Footy will see 25 NRL games shown free on Sky Open this season, with seven of those being Warriors matches, plus three further additional free matches, for Anzac Day, Magic Round & State of Origin I. 

Rugby fans will see 19 Super Rugby Pacific matches free on Sky Open, kicking off with Highlanders v Moana Pasifika on Saturday 24 February at 7.05pm. 

During the 2024 season, Sky Open viewers will know that every Friday night there will be a free NRL match to watch, and every Saturday night there will be a free Super Rugby Pacific match. 

Sky Sport and Sky Sport Now customers will continue to benefit from a premium experience of the two tournaments, with all matches playing live and no advertising during play. 

The free-to-air matches will have the same live start time as premium Sky Sport broadcasts and will be supported with advertising through the match.  

The Sky Open broadcasts will start at the same time as the live kick-off but become progressively delayed when advertisements play, ensuring the advertising doesn’t interrupt game time and fans get to see every minute of play.  On average the delay will be around 12 minutes by the end of the match, with three-minute ad breaks during the game.

It’s designed to deliver the best possible viewer experience while allowing for more advertising than our paid products, to fund the cost of bringing this premium sport content free-to-air.

Sky and our partners at the NRL and Super Rugby are excited about this initiative, with Sky taking this new step to bring more great sport content to all New Zealanders in ways that work for them.

“The Warriors had a huge season in 2023 and excitement is really building for the 2024 season. And Super Rugby is a perennial favourite for our customers. We’re excited to launch Friday Night Footy and Super Saturday on Sky Open, so that more New Zealanders can watch more of the games they love for free from the first whistle,” said Sophie Moloney, Sky CEO.

Warriors CEO Cameron George said: “We were blown away by the support that we experienced in 2023 from Kiwi fans and can’t wait to build on it in the upcoming 2024 season. It’s awesome to see this initiative from Sky to create free ‘Friday Night Footy’ on Sky Open, offering more Warriors and NRL matches free-to-air, as it will help to engage even more New Zealanders this season.”

DHL Super Rugby Pacific Chair Kevin Malloy said: “DHL Super Rugby Pacific 2024 is set to ignite rivalries and engage fans right from round one. There is a lot for fans to get excited about and ‘Super Saturday’ is a great way to offer DHL Super Rugby Pacific to more New Zealanders, with a free match on offer every Saturday night. We’re looking forward to the season kicking off with the first ‘Super Saturday’ match on Sky Open, with the Highlanders versus Moana Pasifika (Saturday 24 February at 7.05pm).”

Notes

Sky Open will show 28 NRL games and 19 Super Rugby Pacific matches for free, with ‘live start’ advertising. A further 26 NRL games & 6 Super Rugby games will be available on Sky Open with a delayed start. 

Over on Sky Sport and Sky Sport Now, paying customers will be able to watch all matches live across both tournaments; this includes 213 matches over 31 rounds for the NRL Premiership, and 91 games across the Super Rugby Pacific.

Sky Open, formerly known as Prime, is available on Freeview channel 15, Sky channel 4, and content on Sky Open can be streamed free via Sky Go (on web or the Sky Go app).

Sky Open ‘live start’ schedule for Super Rugby Pacific and NRL