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Spark Sport offers free online content to Kiwis as coronavirus grinds sporting world to a halt

March 17, 2020
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Spark Sport has attempted to lessen the impact of the coronavirus on Kiwi sports fans by offering access to its six sports channels and the hundreds of hours of on-demand sport it has for free until May.

The online sports broadcaster announced this morning it is offering the content to both current and new customers as a way to combat the fact that the Covid-19 outbreak has seen many sporting leagues around the globe postpone or cancel their seasons.

Head of Spark Sport, Jeff Latch, said in a statement it is a very challenging time for sports bodies, broadcasters and supporters alike, and during the temporary hiatus of many live sport events his company wanted to give New Zealand sports fans something to smile about.

"We love bringing New Zealand some of the best live sport from around the globe, but Covid-19 has impacted the range of live events we have on the platform – so offering our channels and on-demand content up free of charge during this time feels like the right thing to do," Latch siad.

"In practice this means we will stop charging existing customers for their subscription from their next billing cycle. Currently our view is that we will start charging again in May, but we will review this closer to the time.

"We also recognise a lot of New Zealanders are either in self-isolation or limiting social interaction at the moment and having access to sports content is a great way for people to be entertained and keep their spirits up.

"It goes without saying that this isn’t sustainable in the long-term, so once our key sports partners are able to resume coverage, we will recommence our paid subscription model again, but this will not happen until May at the earliest."

Latch added Spark Sport will be adding more on-demand content to the platform.

"While we recognise nothing quite compares to a live sports match, we are doing everything we can to work with our sports partners to offer up the next best thing.

Existing customers will automatically see their future charges suspended until their May bill while new customers will need to sign up to the platform in order to access the sports content.

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