The networks are working on a joint bid for local broadcast rights, to be led by the Maori Television Service (MTS), after Prime Minister John Key and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples brokered a deal that averted a bidding war between MTS and TVNZ -- both backed by taxpayer funds.
The have both withdrawn their bids and are working on a joint bid to put to the International Rugby Board.
Under the joint bid agreement that is being negotiated, MTS alone would broadcast the opening ceremony and the first game between the All Blacks and Tonga.
The problem is that the aim of the joint bid is to deliver nationwide free-to-air broadcasts of matches, and MTS reaches about 85 percent of the population.
Mr Key indicated last night he was prepared to step in again if that was necessary.
"If I had to lend my shoulder to the wheel I guess I would," he said.
"But this negotiation is happening in a spirit of goodwill between the three partners."
Dr Sharples, co-leader of the Maori Party, previously backed the MTS bid while the Government supported the rival TVNZ bid.
He said yesterday there were only "a couple of things" left to decide in the joint bid.
"They're almost through, I'm pretty happy with the way things are," he told reporters.
Asked about the opening ceremony and the first game, he said he would like everyone to be able to see it and believed that when the time comes, MTS will be broadcasting nationwide.
MTS chief executive Jim Mather said there was no guarantee a joint bid would be accepted by the IRB.
"Given their vast experience of allocating rights for many, many years in different countries I think even they would be quite surprised by the events that have happened (in New Zealand)," he said.
