Telstra denies News Corp reports it is planning to ditch its NRL naming rights sponsorship

Australia’s largest telco Telstra has denied it is looking at not renewing its long running deal with the NRL as the naming rights sponsor of the code.

The move comes after The Australian last week wrote a story claiming that after 17 seasons sponsoring the “Telstra Premiership” it would can its sponsorship and seek only a minor role in the code.

“Reports that Telstra is looking to not renew our NRL naming rights are untrue,” said a Telstra spokesman. “We are proud of what we have built with the NRL to date and are in negotiations to continue our partnership beyond 2017.

“We are unable to comment further as negotiations are ongoing.”