Australian free-to-air channel NITV, which is operated by public-service broadcaster SBS, has acquired rights to the 2015 Pacific Games, with the multi-sport event set to be shown in the country for the first time.
Under the agreement with the 2015 Games organising committee in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, NITV will hold exclusive broadcast rights for free-to-air terrestrial broadcasts in Australia through NITV and SBS.
It will also have non-exclusive online rights within Australia. NITV will distribute the 2015 Games in certain territories across the Pacific through digital and satellite broadcasts on SBS.
NITV will provide live broadcasts of the opening and closing ceremonies, along with up to six hours a day of programming from each day of the Games, which runs from July 4-18.
Australia has been invited to participate in four sports in this year’s Games. Commenting on the NITV deal, Pacific Games Council president Vidhya Lakhan said: “The broadcasting of the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games into the homes of all Australians is a landmark moment for our sporting movement in the Pacific.”
NITV was launched in 2007 as a channel dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.