Spark Sport
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Update on Spark Sport streaming issue
Following technical investigations overnight and this morning, Spark Sport is making configuration changes to the way the video stream comes into New Zealand. We believe this will resolve the video quality issues experienced by some customers intermittently during the All Blacks v South Africa match last night. These configuration changes will be implemented prior to today’s matches, which commence with Italy v Namibia from 4.45pm.
Spark will simulcast all of today’s Rugby World Cup coverage free-to-air on TVNZ DUKE so our customers can have full confidence they will be able to enjoy the matches tonight. We are confident Spark Sport will provide a good experience tonight, but if customers for any reason are unhappy with their stream, they will have the opportunity to watch on TVNZ DUKE. This is in line with the commitment we made prior to the tournament to have established procedures in place via our partner TVNZ to provide an alternative means of watching matches should there be any concerns with Spark Sport’s streaming service.
Customers who feel unhappy with their viewing experience of the All Blacks v South Africa pool match pass can receive a refund: customers who purchased an All Blacks vs South Africa Match Pass can receive a full refund; those who purchased a Tournament Pass and wish to leave the service can also receive a full refund; and those who wish to carry on with the service, can receive a partial 15% refund of their Tournament Pass price. Unhappy customers who have activated a Spark Sport subscription via a voucher code can also receive a full or partial refund.
TVNZ DUKE is available on channel 13 or DUKE on Sky channel 23. Note that tonight’s matches will not be available through the TVNZ website or TVNZ OnDemand app.
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@Nepia said in [Poll] Will you use Spark to watch RWC?:
What kind of broadband does everyone have? What speeds?
1000/500 here. Didn't watch on that though - had some freezes at the place we were, which was annoying. Critically, didn't lose any action - just a delay.
Other than htat, the picture was good HD for us (on a projector)
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
1000/500 here.
WTF!!!!
I too was watching on a projector. We had one hiccup when it froze after one of the drop backs to SD so we restarted and it returned to half time of the France v Arg game. (But Kayo in Oz, not SS).
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@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
1000/500 here.
WTF!!!!
I too was watching on a projector. We had one hiccup when it froze after one of the drop backs to SD so we restarted and it returned to half time of the France v Arg game. (But Kayo in Oz, not SS).
@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
1000/500 here.
WTF!!!!
makes a massive difference ... working from home is not just viable,it's like I"m at my desk at work. Amazing.
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@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
1000/500 here.
WTF!!!!
makes a massive difference ... working from home is not just viable,it's like I"m at my desk at work. Amazing.@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
1000/500 here.
WTF!!!!
makes a massive difference ... working from home is not just viable,it's like I"m at my desk at work. Amazing.No need to rub it in.
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@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
1000/500 here.
WTF!!!!
makes a massive difference ... working from home is not just viable,it's like I"m at my desk at work. Amazing.No need to rub it in.
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@Nepia yeah, sorry.
That's a year old as I"m streaming at the moment, AKL WLG waiting for the RWC to kick off again.
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@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia yeah, sorry.
That's a year old as I"m streaming at the moment, AKL WLG waiting for the RWC to kick off again.
That's probably better than the big Unis here in Sydney.
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@Nepia honestly sometimes boggles my mind that we can get that for what we pay. It's positioned us for the future ... who knows what it's going to be used for someday, but it sure isn't an impediment to anything involving internet speed.
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia honestly sometimes boggles my mind that we can get that for what we pay. It's positioned us for the future ... who knows what it's going to be used for someday, but it sure isn't an impediment to anything involving internet speed.
How much is it?
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@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia honestly sometimes boggles my mind that we can get that for what we pay. It's positioned us for the future ... who knows what it's going to be used for someday, but it sure isn't an impediment to anything involving internet speed.
How much is it?
@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia honestly sometimes boggles my mind that we can get that for what we pay. It's positioned us for the future ... who knows what it's going to be used for someday, but it sure isn't an impediment to anything involving internet speed.
How much is it?
110 NZD a month, unlimited data, with a phone line and unlimited national calling included. We only have the phoneline because of some older people who haven't gone fully mobile yet.
Basically, broadband prices haven't gone up much, but the speed and data has increased exponentially.
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@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia honestly sometimes boggles my mind that we can get that for what we pay. It's positioned us for the future ... who knows what it's going to be used for someday, but it sure isn't an impediment to anything involving internet speed.
How much is it?
110 NZD a month, unlimited data, with a phone line and unlimited national calling included. We only have the phoneline because of some older people who haven't gone fully mobile yet.
Basically, broadband prices haven't gone up much, but the speed and data has increased exponentially.
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@nzzp said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Nepia honestly sometimes boggles my mind that we can get that for what we pay. It's positioned us for the future ... who knows what it's going to be used for someday, but it sure isn't an impediment to anything involving internet speed.
How much is it?
110 NZD a month, unlimited data, with a phone line and unlimited national calling included. We only have the phoneline because of some older people who haven't gone fully mobile yet.
Basically, broadband prices haven't gone up much, but the speed and data has increased exponentially.
WTF, I pay about $80 for 50/20 and would happily pay $30 more for those speeds.
So, so envious.
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From Spark Sport:
Midway through the first half we identified that the quality of the video stream was fluctuating for some customers. This meant that customers experienced brief, intermittent periods of reduced video quality such as pixilation and buffering.
We were uncomfortable at the quality of the experience our customers were getting and, as we always said we would, we moved quickly to provide them with an alternative means of watching the match. We had prior established procedures with our partner TVNZ to enable live, free-to-air coverage at short notice.
We made the call just before half time to immediately simulcast the rest of the match live on TVNZ Duke and we communicated this through our channels and the media. A banner message was also subsequently displayed on Spark Sport.
The video streaming quality issue improved shortly afterwards and from midway through the second half streaming across all devices appeared stable once again.
The majority of customers continued to watch via Spark Sport and did not experience video quality issues. The service peaked at 132,000 concurrent streams and by the end of the match had dropped to 126,000.
There were not the same video quality problems during the day’s two earlier matches. Although some customers needed help from our care teams at times during the day, for the most part these related to isolated device issues and in-home set up.
The root cause of the video streaming issue is still being investigated with our international streaming partners. However, we can confirm that the issue was not related to New Zealand broadband capacity, with the demand for this game well within our operating thresholds. It was not confined to customers of any particular broadband provider.
@Bovidae said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
From Spark Sport:
Midway through the first half we identified that the quality of the video stream was fluctuating for some customers. This meant that customers experienced brief, intermittent periods of reduced video quality such as pixilation and buffering.
We were uncomfortable at the quality of the experience our customers were getting and, as we always said we would, we moved quickly to provide them with an alternative means of watching the match. We had prior established procedures with our partner TVNZ to enable live, free-to-air coverage at short notice.
We made the call just before half time to immediately simulcast the rest of the match live on TVNZ Duke and we communicated this through our channels and the media. A banner message was also subsequently displayed on Spark Sport.
The video streaming quality issue improved shortly afterwards and from midway through the second half streaming across all devices appeared stable once again.
The majority of customers continued to watch via Spark Sport and did not experience video quality issues. The service peaked at 132,000 concurrent streams and by the end of the match had dropped to 126,000.
There were not the same video quality problems during the day’s two earlier matches. Although some customers needed help from our care teams at times during the day, for the most part these related to isolated device issues and in-home set up.
The root cause of the video streaming issue is still being investigated with our international streaming partners. However, we can confirm that the issue was not related to New Zealand broadband capacity, with the demand for this game well within our operating thresholds. It was not confined to customers of any particular broadband provider.
This made me think. There's people that had to work during the game. Thoughts and prayers.
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@Bovidae said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
From Spark Sport:
Midway through the first half we identified that the quality of the video stream was fluctuating for some customers. This meant that customers experienced brief, intermittent periods of reduced video quality such as pixilation and buffering.
We were uncomfortable at the quality of the experience our customers were getting and, as we always said we would, we moved quickly to provide them with an alternative means of watching the match. We had prior established procedures with our partner TVNZ to enable live, free-to-air coverage at short notice.
We made the call just before half time to immediately simulcast the rest of the match live on TVNZ Duke and we communicated this through our channels and the media. A banner message was also subsequently displayed on Spark Sport.
The video streaming quality issue improved shortly afterwards and from midway through the second half streaming across all devices appeared stable once again.
The majority of customers continued to watch via Spark Sport and did not experience video quality issues. The service peaked at 132,000 concurrent streams and by the end of the match had dropped to 126,000.
There were not the same video quality problems during the day’s two earlier matches. Although some customers needed help from our care teams at times during the day, for the most part these related to isolated device issues and in-home set up.
The root cause of the video streaming issue is still being investigated with our international streaming partners. However, we can confirm that the issue was not related to New Zealand broadband capacity, with the demand for this game well within our operating thresholds. It was not confined to customers of any particular broadband provider.
This made me think. There's people that had to work during the game. Thoughts and prayers.
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@Bones said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
This made me think. There's people that had to work during the game. Thoughts and prayers.
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@Machpants said in [Poll] Will you use Spark to watch RWC?:
Not much use to those of us that don't have TVNZ
But reasonable for them as a provider. Confident that it will get better, and pool games are where you want them to find the issues.
@Kirwan said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Machpants said in [Poll] Will you use Spark to watch RWC?:
Not much use to those of us that don't have TVNZ
But reasonable for them as a provider. Confident that it will get better, and pool games are where you want them to find the issues.
I disagree. I purchased (unwittingly) the rugby WC package. Not the quarter finals packages. (Semi and final are free to air)
As a paying customer it should be sorted before it starts not during the time when the package represents the investment.
I don’t go to to a new restaurant, having a degustation with the expectation that if the dessert is ok and the entrees, secondi and main are below standard, that the whole experience is value for money.
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@Kirwan said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
@Machpants said in [Poll] Will you use Spark to watch RWC?:
Not much use to those of us that don't have TVNZ
But reasonable for them as a provider. Confident that it will get better, and pool games are where you want them to find the issues.
I disagree. I purchased (unwittingly) the rugby WC package. Not the quarter finals packages. (Semi and final are free to air)
As a paying customer it should be sorted before it starts not during the time when the package represents the investment.
I don’t go to to a new restaurant, having a degustation with the expectation that if the dessert is ok and the entrees, secondi and main are below standard, that the whole experience is value for money.
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There will be improvements today as most of us will watch on Duke, so the load will be lower.
Spark Sport will lose millions on this, not to mention a lot of goodwill.
@Bovidae said in And the winner of the RWC broadcasting rights is...:
Spark Sport will lose millions on this, not to mention a lot of goodwill.
Not sure about that. They had 130,000 streams at peak. At $75 typical per user, that covers their buyin - and there'd be a heap of people not logged in who were out/at mates places (like me).
now throw in the sponsorship dollars, money from TVNZ, and the pubs/clubs costings, and it'll stack up just fine.
The reputation, on the other hand... (noting I'm loving streaming compared to satellite. On demand is grea, and the quality is fantastic)
