Foxtel, the Australian pay-TV operator owned by sports OTT service DAZN, will air the upcoming men’s Rugby League Ashes, with the international series between Australia and England returning after a 22-year absence.
Under the rights deal, Foxtel will broadcast all three matches being held in the UK on its Fox League linear channel and Kayo streaming service.
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It will be the first time in over two decades that the rugby league’s Ashes has been contested, with the two national teams facing each other at three UK venues: London’s Wembley Stadium (October 26), Liverpool’s newly renamed Hill Dickinson Stadium (November 2), and Headingley Rugby Stadium in Leeds (November 9).
The series was previously played 39 times, with the last edition staged in 2003 when Australia won 3-0.
This year’s series will be the first time Australia will take on a standalone England side, with previous competitions historically featuring a combined Great Britain team.
As part of its Ashes announcement, Foxtel said it will also be airing the 2025 Men’s and Women’s Pacific Championship from October 19 to November 9.
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By GlobalDataThe men’s competition will not feature Australia due to its commitment to the Ashes in the UK, with New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and the Cook Islands competing.
The women’s competition, meanwhile, will feature the Australian national team facing New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and the Cook Islands.
The rights add to Foxtel’s rugby league portfolio, which includes domestic rights to the NRL as part of a seven-year deal struck in 2020 worth around AUD200 million ($137.7 million) per season until 2027.
As part of the deal, it airs all eight games each round, with five exclusive games each weekend, across its linear channel and Kayo Sports streaming platform.
At the beginning of this year, Peter V’landys, chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission, revealed domestic media rights covering the next cycle of NRL rights would be negotiated this year, despite two seasons remaining with Foxtel and commercial broadcaster Nine, which holds free-to-air rights.
The broadcaster also holds the rights to English rugby league’s top-flight Super League, which recently announced that it is set to expand ahead of the 2026 campaign, adding even more potential games to the broadcast slate.
The deal comes four months after DAZN, the global sports streaming service, completed its acquisition of Foxtel, which will retain its own brand identity.
The deal was first announced in late December and represents a franchise value of A$3.4 billion (US$2.2 billion at the time) for Foxtel. It includes the repayment of A$706 million in shareholder loans (A$578 million from News Corp, A$128 million from Telstra) as well as News Corp gaining a 6% minority equity shareholding in DAZN, and Telstra gaining 3%.
Foxtel has moved to consolidate its sports rights portfolio after facing competition from Nine Network, which recently secured premium soccer rights, including the English Premier League, from outgoing Optus Sport in June.
Earlier this month, the broadcaster announced it had renewed its carriage deal with international sports broadcaster ESPN, allowing it to retain rights to basketball’s NBA and WNBA, American football’s NFL, baseball’s MLB, mixed martial arts’ UFC, and ice hockey’s NHL.
