The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Papua New Guinea’s national broadcaster, has secured exclusive rights to English rugby league’s top-tier Super League competition.
The agreement will see NBC show all 191 Super League matches live across Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands for the 2026 to 2028 seasons.
The deal is the first between NBC and the Super League and marks the first time a Pacific broadcaster has held rights to a major international sports competition in New Zealand.
All matches will be shown live on NBC’s Digital Television platform, with the broadcaster to launch a new online streaming service.
The NBC said to increase the competition’s visibility, it has engaged with other broadcasters in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to sublicense its rights.
NBC managing director Kora Nou said: “Rugby league is deeply woven into our national identity, and securing these rights is a proud achievement for public broadcasting in the region.
"With our new digital TV and OTT platforms, we’re making Super League more accessible than ever. We’re also proud to be the first Pacific broadcaster to hold commercial rights in New Zealand for a major international sports event.”
He added that NBC is working to make Super League matches available to fans in all 22 provinces through its provincial radio network.
The Super League has a strong Pacific presence, with more than 35 players of Pacific heritage playing in the 2025 season, including Papua New Guinea players Edwin Ipape, Lachlan Lam, Liam Horne, Nene Macdonald, Rhyse Martin, Jeremiah Simbiken, and Jacob Alick-Wiencke.
Players from New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, and Australia with Pacific roots are also featuring across top clubs.
Other Super League broadcasters include UK pay-TV broadcaster Sky and public broadcaster the BBC, Australian pay-TV service Foxtel, US sports channel Fox Soccer Plus, international pay-TV network BeIN Sports, and southeast Europe’s Sportklub.
The new rights come after the 12 Super League clubs voted to expand the division to 14 teams from the upcoming 2026 campaign, with Toulouse Olympique and York Knights selected for promotion to the top-flight.
The clubs were decided by a hybrid method, taking into account both an independent panel and the club grading system that was instituted in 2024 by the league’s long-term commercial partner, IMG.
Under those rules, the Super League was previously composed of 12 sides – 11 English and one French – with the best grades each season. From this season, the top 12 clubs will be joined by the two with the next best gradings from the second-tier Championship.
The panel was chaired by Jonathan Caine, a recent appointee to the Rugby Football League board of directors, as well as the sub-committee in charge of the sport’s current strategic review.
The Super League last featured 14 teams in the 2014 season, which was the last of three campaigns to use a licensing system, after which the league returned to promotion and relegation around a 12-team league.
The 2026 Super League campaign kicks off with newly promoted York Knights hosting treble-winning champions Hull KR on February 12.
