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Rugby World Cup 2011 - Source: Photosport -
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The International Rugby Board (IRB) and broadcasters are comfortable with an agreement on local television coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup about to be signed, Prime Minister John Key says.
Key revealed on Monday the deal is likely to be signed this week and on Tuesday morning added it is not materially different to the proposal previously publicised.
"The verbal assurances I had was everyone was comfortable from the IRB to the individual media outlets," he told reporters.
Key leaves on Wednesday for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.
He expects the agreement to be signed in the next day or so.
Maori Television, TVNZ and TV3 put in a joint bid, backed by the government, to cover all the World Cup matches.
Before that happened, Maori Television put in a controversial bid of its own, backed with taxpayer funds, and would have ended up competing with TVNZ.
Those bids were withdrawn and replaced by the joint bid with the matches shared between the broadcasters.
Sky TV has the international rights to the World Cup.
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