SKY Confirms Coverage Of The Tall Blacks

26 July, 2006

SKY Confirms Coverage Of The Tall Blacks In Argentina

The Tall Blacks are on a high after winning The Al Ramsey Shield in a classic battle against their former foes the Boomers (Australian men’s basketball team). Continuing their build-up to the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan next month, the Tall Blacks travelled to Argentina for a four-nation tournament featuring the hosts, Brazil and Venezuela. SKY Television announced today that, thanks to the relationship with ESPN International, it will screen LIVE coverage of both the 3rd place playoff and the championship match, as well as delayed coverage of the two semi-finals.

With their recent win over Australia, the Tall Blacks are a real threat to these South American sides, and this four-nation tournament is an excellent opportunity for them to get in some quality practice before the upcoming World Championships in August, also LIVE on SKY Sport.

Dates, Times and Channels*:
Date Time Channel Match Venue
31st July 6:00pm SKY Sport 1, ESPN International New Zealand v Brazil (Semi-final #1) Santa Fe, Argentina
1st August 4:30am SKY Sport 1, ESPN International Argentina v Venezuela (Semi-final #1) Santa Fe, Argentina
1st August 9:00am SKY Sport 1, ESPN International 3rd Place Playoff LIVE Santa Fe, Argentina
1st August 11:00am SKY Sport 1, ESPN International Championship Match LIVE Santa Fe, Argentina
* Subject to change. -ends-

About SKY Television SKY Television (SKY), broadcasting via both UHF and DTH is New Zealand’s pre-eminent Pay TV operator, offering a wide range of sports, movies, music, on-demand and general content across more than 80 channels. SKY’s channel line-up includes 6 sports channels, 5 movie channels, 5 general entertainment channels, 4 documentary channels, 3 news channels, 4 children’s channels, as well as other niche channels. (At 06 April 2006, SKY had 650,522 subscribers).

SKY launched as a three-channel UHF service in 1990, with two further channels added four years later. SKY’s UHF signal reaches more than 83% of the country’s 1.5 million households. In December 1998 it launched a digital satellite service, extending its reach to the whole country. SKY also offers pay-per-view movies, live events and interactive services including Skybet, the Weather Channel, and games channels Mind Games and Playin’ TV.

With the establishment of a new on line DVD rental service and in December 2005, the launch of MY SKY, a new set top box incorporating a personal video recorder, SKY is positioned to bring New Zealand viewers even more entertainment options.

On 8 February 2006, SKY completed the purchase of the New Zealand television business of Prime Television Ltd. The acquisition of a free-to-air channel gives SKY the opportunity to showcase its channels and programmes whilst ensuring that New Zealand consumers can view delayed free-to-air sports programmes such as rugby, rugby league and cricket in primetime.

ENDS

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