Spark Sport

[Bones]

@JC you sound like my dad. His reasoning for not taking up the spark offer, "I've paid enough money to them over the years". Wants me to hook him up with a VPN, when I told him he'd have to pay he was hesitant. Must be his Shetland Island blood shining through.

[JC]

@Bones I like the cut of your Dad’s jib.

[Bones]

@JC is that a euphemism?

[JC]

@Bones oh Jesus, I hope not!

[Bovidae]

As expected the uptake of Spark Sport hasn't been what they hoped for.

I have only signed up for the RWC package and their other sports don't interest me enough to pay a monthly subscription.

Mark Jennings  /  Jul 8, 2019  /  Business

Spark's sports strategy becomes clearer

Spark Sport outbid SKY TV for the rights for the RWC, but its payoff seems to depend on what happens after the event is finished, writes Mark Jennings.

[JC]

@Bovidae Interesting. Does that 26 second delay matter in practice? In a tight match social media could be telling us the result before the game is over couldn’t they?

[taniwharugby]

@JC maybe Jacinda needs to speak to Mark about spoilers on FB?

[Bovidae]

@JC said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:

@Bovidae Interesting. Does that 26 second delay matter in practice?

Unlikely. I'm no techie but that is a convoluted process to get the stream from Japan to NZ.

[Yeetyaah]

@JC Surely if it's a close game you're eyes would be on the game and not social media?

[Machpants]

Yeah I use RugbyPass via a VPN, it's around a minute slow sometimes. Just control your social media habit, and you're fine.

[No Quarter]

This is a massive risk from Spark. I'm far from convinced NZ is ready for the WC to be streamed. My last place couldn't even get VDSL and we really struggled to stream anything, and that was fairly central in Auckland. There will be plenty of NZers who will struggle, and that's not even mentioning whether Sparks infrastructure will handle the load as expected.

[JC]

@Yeetyaah said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:

@JC Surely if it's a close game you're eyes would be on the game and not social media?

You’ve seen this forum when there’s a RWC game on, right?

[Hooroo]

I'm cutting off my nose to spite my face with this.

I flat out am refusing to purchase the RWC. True-Love is a little surprised with my stubbornness but it looks as though I will be watching televised replays and just the semis and final (which I believe will be on the telly?)

[Bovidae]

@Hooroo TVNZ will have the AB games on a 1 h delay so for a lot of people that won't be a big issue. I expect regular ads though.

[Hooroo]

@Bovidae said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:

@Hooroo TVNZ will have the AB games on a 1 h delay so for a lot of people that won't be a big issue. I expect regular ads though.

I'm fine with that in this instance of stubbornness. I will delay another 30 mins and record and watch

[Bovidae]

FYI

[Hooroo]

@Bovidae said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:

FYI

Brilliant! Thanks mate

[Nepia]

@No-Quarter said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:

This is a massive risk from Spark. I'm far from convinced NZ is ready for the WC to be streamed. My last place couldn't even get VDSL and we really struggled to stream anything, and that was fairly central in Auckland. There will be plenty of NZers who will struggle, and that's not even mentioning whether Sparks infrastructure will handle the load as expected.

Nearly all my mates in NZ have much better internet than me in Oz and I thought the UFB roll out was progressing fine over there - is it a mental thing against streaming do you think or is the infrastructure not up to the task?

It took me a while to wrap my head around it with my Kayo subscription and I hit the roof still if my wifi cuts out - and I increased my phone data just in case things go pear shaped.

[Bovidae]

@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:

Nearly all my mates in NZ have much better internet than me in Oz and I thought the UFB roll out was progressing fine over there - is it a mental thing against streaming do you think or is the infrastructure not up to the task?

A lot of the rural areas don't have UFB, or even reliable fibre, so streaming won't be an option.

[Machpants]

I'm rural and my VDSL is 50/20, so it really comes down to the luck of the draw. Not as reliable as terrestrial or sky, but I've had both those cut out at inopportune times. I think if you can take the possibility of little pauses, you're OK. Actual failures in streaming for me have been no more often than sky 'atmospheric' crap.