It's now official, Sky TV has confirmed in an NZX update that it has won back rights to the Rugby World Cup - and offloaded its failed RugbyPass service at the same time.

Its contract signed with World Rugby includes:

• Rugby World Cup 2023, scheduled to be held in France in 2023
• Women's Rugby World Cup 2025, scheduled to be held in England in 2025
• Rugby World Cup 2027, scheduled to be held in Australia in 2027
• Women's Rugby World Cup 2029, scheduled to be held in Australia in 2029
• Rugby World Cup Sevens 2026, location to be confirmed
• WXV (new global women's competition) to 2029
• World Rugby Pacific Four Series (world's top women's teams: New Zealand, Australia,
• Canada and USA) to 2029
• Sevens Series Tournaments to 2029
• World Rugby U20 Championships to 2029

The deal was first revealed by the Herald on October 6.

There was no immediate confirmation of free-to-air partners. The Herald earlier reported that Sky will potentially look to work with both TVNZ and Three owner Warner Bros Discovery

It's the second major clawback from Spark Sport after Sky won back English Premier League rights with an expanded six-season deal.

Sky has not put a dollar value on the deal, but says it wasn't all cash. World Rugby will get Sky's RugbyPass service as part of the payment (more on the struggling RugbyPass below).

Sky bought RugbyPass - which was then streaming top-tier rugby to a global audience of ex-pats and fans outside the top rugby-playing countries for - in 2019 in a deal worth up to US$40m (then $62.1m).

The deal consisted of a US$10m up-front cash payment, US$20m in shares, and earnouts of up to US$10m if performance targets were met.

The earnout targets were not met. RugbyPass had a small number of subs paying US$14.99 for its service but big plans - which were dashed as Covid decimated the sporting calendar.

It switched to a free news and stats site, and Sky wrote down the value twice. In its 2022 annual report, the pay TV provider valued RugbyPass at $11m.

It was a marquee moment for Spark when it won rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

But the telco ran to grief when technical problems with its stream forced it handover the second half of a key New Zealand-South Africa clash to free-to-air broadcast partner TVNZ.

And more broadly, Spark faced a backlash from All Blacks fans in rural areas without good enough broadband for reliable streaming.

Sky recently revealed a new "hybrid" Sky Box that will be offered as a replacement for today's decoders. The new box can get streaming content via an internet connection, but will continue to use a satellite dish for Sky's regular channels - a measure Sky says is necessary for national coverage.

Customers will have the choice to stick with the current decoder, Sky says.

Sky shares closed Friday at $2.22.

The stock is up 12.1 per cent for the year.