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Commerce Commission receives complaints over Spark Sport's Rugby World Cup streaming issues

September 23, 2019

Coverage of the All Blacks vs South Africa match was simulcast on TVNZ DUKE.

The Commerce Commission has received five complaints regarding issues relating to Spark Sport's streaming of the Rugby World Cup over the weekend.

A Commission spokeswoman told 1 NEWS the complaints will go through an assessment process, which will deem whether they are pursued.

The Rugby World Cup kicked off with a win for the All Blacks over South Africa, but a loss for some viewers who were unable to watch the game due to technical issues with Spark Sport's broadcast.

Off the back of complaints, Spark simulcast coverage live on TVNZ DUKE within the first 15 minutes of the game, and has since offered partial and full refunds to disgruntled subscribers.

Spark chief executive Jolie Hodson said Spark had "a number of games streamed live" that went well – "especially over the Friday, Saturday leading into the All Blacks game.

"And for many of our customers, the All Blacks game also streamed very well," Ms Hodson told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning.

Spark CEO Jolie Hodson joined Breakfast to discuss customer complaints.

"However, we do accept that there were a number of customers that it didn't perform well, which is why we made the decision to switch over to TVNZ.

"We said right from the beginning of the tournament we had that backup plan. We wanted to make sure the experience was great for everyone and when we saw that it wasn't on some devices, we made a choice to move."

Viewers reported issues with picture quality, glitching and lagging, which Ms Hodson said was owed to the "configuration of the stream coming into New Zealand" from the telco's overseas partner.

"We worked with them over the weekend, and we have resolved that particular issue," she said. She noted that Spark streamed and simulcast last night and had "a number of people on our platform who watched the stream with no issues."

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