Pixilation, buffering behind Spark Sport's shift in RWC coverage

September 22, 2019
Pixilated television screen from the All Blacks v Springboks game last night.

An overnight investigation by Spark Sport has potentially identified the source of the streaming issues angering some rugby fans in New Zealand last night. 

Poor video quality reported in the first 15 minutes of the Rugby World Cup pool match between the All Blacks and the Springboks forced Spark Sport to provide a simulcast of the match on TVNZ DUKE.

"Our technical team believes the issue is within the international distribution network via which the video stream is passed from our streaming platform located in the USA, through to New Zealand broadband providers. The team are working to confirm this and put a fix in place," Spark Sport said in a statement.

It's too soon to tell if the issues will be resolved in time for today's matches. To avoid further disappointment Spark Sport is prepped to simulcast the Italy vs Namibia, England vs Tonga, and Ireland vs Scotland pool games on TVNZ DUKE if required.

"We intend to make a decision on whether or not to simulcast by 1pm today, to ensure our customers have adequate time to prepare for today’s matches," said Spark Sport.

Reduced video quality is behind Spark Sports decision to simulcast Saturday night's Rugby World Cup pool match between New Zealand and South Africa last night.

It’s too early to tell whether the issue will be resolved in time for today’s matches.

Spark Sport says they made the call to shift coverage of the game to TVNZ DUKE in addition to their Spark Sport streams after receiving reports of poor stream quality, pixilation and buffering midway through the first half.

“We are very disappointed that some New Zealanders did not get the experience they deserved last night during such an important match. Making a quick decision to give them an alternative means to watch the All Blacks was the right thing to do," Spark CEO, Jolie Hodson said.

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.

Streams during the competition's first match on Friday between Russia and Japan reached 60,000 customers, with less than one per cent experiencing technical issues.

"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," Spark Sport said in a statement.

Spark Sport stream dropout during the All Blacks first Rugby World Cup match against South Africa, September 21 2019

Customers have continued to call on Spark care teams to help with isolated device issues and in-home set up.

Price and product comparison site, PriceSpy has suggested that Kiwis have rushed at the last minute to upgrade their televisions ahead of the opening weekend for the Rugby World Cup (RWC).

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