SBS and Nine to go head to head with World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September

SBS and Nine to go head to head with World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September – In a highly unusual move for Australian television, the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 will be broadcast live and free across two major free-to-air networks — SBS and the 9Network — from September 13 to 21.

The event, which ranks among the world’s top three sporting spectacles by global reach (behind only the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup™), will see the cream of Australian athletics compete on the world stage — and now, it appears viewers will have more than one way to watch.

A Broadcasting First?

SBS confirmed to TV Central that its previously announced plans — featuring comprehensive, uninterrupted coverage across SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand — are still going ahead. That includes all 14 sessions of arena and road events, full replays, extended daily highlights, and social media content. And yes — Bruce McAvaney, the legendary voice of Australian athletics, will lead the SBS broadcast.

However, Channel 9 threw a spanner into the works this morning, announcing that it too will broadcast the World Athletics Championships in prime time for “nine consecutive nights” across the 9Network and 9Now.

What makes this especially notable is that the two networks are not co-broadcasting in partnership — as typically seen during the Olympics with the IOC or via a domestic rights deal. Instead, it appears that both SBS and Nine have secured separate rights deals for the same event, possibly through different distribution or sublicensing pathways via World Athletics.

TV Central has reached out to Nine to confirm the extent of their coverage — whether it will match SBS with full sessions or be a curated highlights package focused on marquee Australian events. Nine only responded with this comment:

“The World Athletics Championships Tokyo joins our Olympic runway through to Brisbane 2032 where we continue to build a destination that allows viewers to follow the journeys of Australia’s top tier and emerging athletes here on the 9Network.”

SBS Director of Sport Ken Shipp said:

“SBS Sport’s plans for its broadcast of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 remain unchanged. SBS is proud to have provided comprehensive coverage of the World Athletics Championships across ten editions since 2001. We will be broadcasting every minute of every session from Tokyo across multiple platforms, with the doyen of athletics commentators Bruce McAvaney guiding and informing our audience through the nine-day program of one of the world’s biggest sporting events.”

Why the Confusion?

This situation is rare — almost unheard of in the Australian sports broadcast landscape. Typically, sporting rights are exclusive to one broadcaster. Shared coverage is often coordinated and formally announced to avoid confusion.

That has not happened here.

Instead, with both networks releasing their own separate announcements, audiences are likely to be puzzled: Will Bruce McAvaney and SBS offer a different experience to Nine’s Wide World of Sports coverage? Will both show the same events in full? Are there split rights for streaming vs linear TV?

What We Know So Far

SBS will air every session live and in full, led by Bruce McAvaney, across SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
Channel 9 will air prime-time nightly coverage for nine nights on the 9Network and 9Now, with no official word yet on whether this includes full sessions or selected highlights.
Both broadcasters appear to be operating independently, not as formal partners.
SBS has previously aired 10 editions of the World Athletics Championships since 2001, and is continuing that tradition.
Nine’s entry into the event is a surprise — and suggests either new sublicensing arrangements or potentially a shift in how World Athletics is distributing international rights.

The Star Power

Regardless of platform, Aussie fans are in for a golden stretch of sport.

Australia’s Tokyo 2025 team is shaping up as one of the strongest in history, with global stars like:

Nina Kennedy (Olympic pole vault gold)
Jess Hull (Olympic 1500m silver)
Nicola Olyslagers (Olympic high jump silver)
Matt Denny (Olympic discus bronze)
Peter Bol, Cameron Myers, and Liam Adcock
And breakout teen sprinters Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy

Global stars on the track include Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Mondo Duplantis, making this a must-watch for any athletics fan.

TV Central will update this story as soon as Nine clarifies the scope of its coverage.

For now, one thing is clear: Come September, Australian viewers will have two major free-to-air options for watching the World Athletics Championships — an extraordinary development in our television history.

Media Release – SBS

Link to SBS on Demand HERE

TV Central SBS content HERE

SBS and Nine to go head to head with World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September