The Rugby World Cup kicked off over the weekend, and for many New Zealanders this was their first taste of Spark’s new sport streaming service Spark Sport.
Leading up to the World Cup respondents to a survey run by Opinion Compare told us that over half of them had negative feelings at the prospect of streaming the World Cup.
As the Rugby World kicked off over the weekend, most customers had their first true taste of the Spark Sport streaming service. The opening ceremony and opening match on Friday night seemed to go fairly smoothly.
But when bigger numbers logged on for the All Blacks vs. South Africa last night, users all over the country reported a sub-optimal streaming experience - glitching, freezing, buffering and delays.
By half time Spark had resorted to their fall back plan to switch the live coverage to TVNZ’s Duke channel where it was free for all.
Spark said it was "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," it said.
Spark announced on Sunday that it will be offering a full refund to customers who were unhappy with the streaming issues of Saturday’s game – but all requests must be submitted before September 29
The Spark Sport webpage says "To obtain your refund for the New Zealand v South Africa pool match, please complete this form by no later than 11.59pm on 29 September 2019,"
"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 percent 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."
Spark said it was "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," it said.
Spark says the problems were caused by the US-based company which was providing the live stream into New Zealand.
