Seven West Media : RLWC 2017 - Media Kit

The Rugby League World Cup is the jewel in the crown and to have it in our backyard, in prime time is super exciting.

As a kid growing up in Queensland, rugby league had a passionate following and I remember watching World Cups.

Now, league is back on Seven and it's my absolute honour to host our coverage.

The opener on 27 October in Melbourne will be huge. Mal Meninga's Kangaroos versus Wayne Bennett's England. The last time the old band will be together in a World Cup.

Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, and Cooper Cronk fresh from winning the premiership and back in familiar territory in the Green and Gold. Cam and Billy are our sole survivors from 2008 when the Kiwis stunned us at Suncorp Stadium. Now they're out for revenge and what a backdrop for the RLWC opener on the Friday night.

A day later, mighty mare Winx takes centre stage on Seven chasing a third Cox Plate - it's a sporting festival over 24 hours.

The RLWC will be five weeks of non-stop excitement with the biggest names playing for the prize silverware in Australia, PNG and New Zealand.

The eligibility rules mean overseas nations have been bolstered by genuine star power. This is not just about Australia, England and the Kiwis.

Tonga, Samoa, Italy, Lebanon and 2013 Quarter Finalists, USA, have fire power to burn. The defection of Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita to Tonga has given them a massive injection.

Standby for the unexpected and an event the entire country can be proud of, and it's five weeks of the very best in rugby league.

I'm thrilled the Women's Rugby League World Cup will run concurrently with the Men's from mid-November.

Our Jillaroos are flying and the action from Cronulla and then the final on 2 December at Suncorp Stadium will be brilliant.

A double header when hopefully our Jillaroos and Kangaroos will be crowned world champions. Enjoy everyone and from this league lover, cannot wait to be part of a fantastic team.

League is back on Seven. Join us.

We are genuinely excited to be the home of the Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup.

We are looking forward to bringing the Seven style of live sports coverage to rugby league, a coverage that will be available on all screens.

Our securing of the Cup is yet another step in our development as we build the platforms to create our future. The Rugby League World Cup delivers our company an extraordinary opportunity to drive home our leadership following the success of our coverage of the AFL Grand Final and we look forward to being the network of the biggest events: the Melbourne Cup, the Rugby League World Cup, the Australian Open, the Olympic Winter Games and the Commonwealth Games across late 2017 and early 2018.

We wish all teams in both Cups and our innovative production teams the very best.

The Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup, live in primetime on Seven, underlines the power of television in delivering big audiences and powering the conversation and audience across all screens through video.

An Australian and global audience will see the best in the world compete in our primetime. We have the best in the business to deliver an outstanding coverage.

The Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup are the starting points for a remarkable six months of major sports events on Seven, including the Melbourne Cup, the major golf tournaments in Australia, the Australian Open Tennis, the Olympic Winter Games, the Commonwealth Games and the 2018 AFL season all in our timezone.

This will be the largest premium events schedule on a single television network this country has ever seen, across every screen to all Australians. We could not be happier to have Rugby League here on Seven. The partnership with the Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup will see us not only create the global television coverage, but also undertake the most far-reaching and expansive coverage of the Cup across television and connected devices. We are looking forward to being a partner with the Rugby League World Cup. It will be a remarkable event. And broadcast live in our primetime.

We're delighted to be the network of this year's Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup. We are also delighted to have secured such an outstanding group of people who will bring both Cups to millions, not only here in Australia but around the world. We are looking forward to being a partner with the Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup.

The Seven Network, Australia's most-watched broadcast television platform, will deliver an all-encompassing coverage of the Rugby League World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 27 October to 2 December 2017. Seven is also the network of the Women's Rugby League World Cup.

Seven's agreement for the Rugby League World Cup 2017 delivers all rights in Australia including free-to-air broadcast television and subscription television rights, online, mobile, and expands to Seven's digital and mobile platforms. Seven has also been appointed to undertake the host broadcast for international television of all games played in Australia in the Rugby League World Cup 2017.

Seven will deliver the Rugby League World Cup and Women's Rugby League World Cup across the Screens of Seven, with live simulcast streaming of broadcast matches through the 7Live app and 7live.com.au (both live and replayed matches). In addition, 7Live will also deliver exclusive live app only coverage of four women's matches.

Seven is also delivering across social media with video on demand and latest news and highlights through facebook.com/7RLWC and twitter.com/7Rlwc (#7RLWC). Fans can 'join the RLWC conversation' on social via Facebook and twitter using @7RLWC and #7RLWC with updates from Seven's RLWC team.

Seven's partnership with the Rugby League World Cup and the Women's Rugby League World Cup follows Seven's successful broadcast of the sport's pinnacle event in 2013. The agreement also confirms Seven's commitment to bringing major events to all Australians and further strengthens our leadership as the television network of major international events held in Australia, building on Seven's coverage of the Australian Open, the World Swimming Championships, the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and the forthcoming Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018. Seven is also the network of the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018 and Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

The 2017 Rugby League World Cup is the 15th staging of the game's pinnacle international event which dates back to 1954, making it the second oldest World Cup of any sporting code. This year's Rugby League World Cup will be played in 13 cities across hosting nations Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea from 27 October to 2 December 2017. Fourteen teams will play 28 games over five weeks in front of an expected 450,000 fans, making it the largest sporting event in the region this year.

This year's tournament will be the first time the Women's Rugby League World Cup has been held as a standalone event, with the pool matches to be played at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Cronulla (Sydney) as triple-headers on 16, 19 and 22 November with the semi-finals to be played as a double-header on 26 November and the final on 2 December.