Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup test will be live-streamed on YouTube
The shape of things to come.
Another intriguing first in new media broadcasting (or at least a first for the All Blacks): tomorrow night's test match against Australia will be streamed live on YouTube to 45 countries.
Check out the NZRU's statement below.
As you if you have to look, New Zealand isn't on the list.
Still, like Google's HD-streaming of Wimbledon snippets on YouTube, and Google bagging Indian cricket rights, it's a glimpse at the shape of things to come.
Pop a Google Chromecast stick into your telly, and you can watch the game on your regular television, in full high definition.
At a time when so much TV and movie content is easily available online, live sport is gold for pay TV providers.
At least for now.
Today, live Internet streaming is billed as a cheap and easy way to get rugby to wider audience around the world.
Tomorrow, it could be an option for New Zealand fans who're willing to pay to watch their favourite sport, but don't want to sign up to a full Sky TV package.
RAW DATA: NZRU statement
All Blacks Testmatch to be streamed online internationally
ALLBLACKS.COM
New Zealand Rugby today announced the third Bledisloe Cup Test between the All Blacks and Australia will be streamed live and available on-demand to more than 45 countries around the world on www.youtube.com/allblacks from 7.35pm NZT (7.35am GMT) on Saturday, 19 October.
The free streaming of the Test offshore to territories including USA, Russia and Italy marks the first time New Zealand Rugby has streamed a Test match live on the All Blacks YouTube channel.
New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive, Steve Tew said the online broadcast of the Test would provide not only All Blacks fans from around the world with an opportunity to view the eagerly awaited match, but also open up rugby to a wider audience.
“The international popularity of the All Blacks on our social media channels is huge, with almost 70 per cent of our 3 million strong online community based outside New Zealand.
“In terms of world rugby, it doesn’t get much bigger than the All Blacks against our traditional rival, Australia. Providing fans from Manhattan to Moscow with an opportunity to watch the final Bledisloe Cup Test of the year supports our goal to showcase the All Blacks in new markets throughout the world and build our global fan base.
“This is a first on this channel and we have a range of exciting innovations planned in the online and content space over the coming months that will help us connect with the growing global fan base,” said Mr Tew.
In New Zealand the game is broadcast live on SKY, with a free to air replay on Prime with a two hour delay.
As well as the live stream, the match will also be available in these markets to be viewed as Video on Demand (VOD) on the All Blacks channel following the live match.
The All Blacks and Australia Test is available on www.youtube.com/allblacks in the following countries:
USA Albania Austria Bahamas Barbados Bermuda
Bosnia Brazil Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus
Czech Republic Denmark El Salvador Finland Georgia Germany
Greece Guatemala Haiti Herzegovina Honduras Iceland
Italy Jamaica Kosovo Latvia Lithuania Macedonia
Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Nicaragua Norway
Panama Poland Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia
Sweden Switzerland Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Venezuela
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Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup test will be live-streamed on YouTube
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