UK pay-television broadcaster Sky and public-service broadcaster the BBC have acquired rights to the 2019 Netball World Cup, which will take place in the English city of Liverpool from July 12-21.
Sky Sports will be host broadcaster for the national-team tournament, which will take place at the Echo Arena, and will show every game live on each day of the competition across its platforms. The BBC will show every game from day four onward free-to-air across its television and digital channels.
Sky Sports has broadcast live netball since 2006, including each of the last three World Cups, in 2007, 2011 and 2015. Sky has an existing relationship with England Netball, having been the main broadcaster of England’s international series, Quad Series and the domestic Superleague, which saw its most successful season in 2018 with viewing figures more than doubling.
Since netball was introduced into the Commonwealth Games in 1998, the BBC has made it an integral part of its coverage. During Glasgow’s 2014 Games, the BBC’s television coverage of netball across the event reached an audience of five million.
Earlier this year, 1.5 million tuned in to the netball final in the Gold Coast to see England claim its first-ever gold medal against hosts Australia with the last shot of the match. Also broadcast this year were the World Cup qualifiers featuring Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and England’s Quad Series fixture against New Zealand in the build-up to next year’s tournament.