SKT Sky Network Television Limited.

[RTM]

I am getting more nervous with regards to the live streaming of RWC... May be its better to hit the Pubs(where SKY's boxes wouldn't fail) rather than rely on Spark Sport

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...ectid=12259661

Good that they have these experiences BEFORE the RWC. Hopefully it assists them with resolving the problems.
Yes...always better to go to the Pub. I've found that not having SKY certainly makes me more social. Maybe that is a good thing ?

[mistaTea]

Good that they have these experiences BEFORE the RWC. Hopefully it assists them with resolving the problems.

Yes that is true - and if Spark are able to retain credibility (which a successful RWC stream would achieve) it will keep Sky honest. No way would Sky have implemented so many changes so quickly without Spark Sport existing. In fact, it is unclear if John Fellet would have resigned and brought Martin on without the increased pressure of Sports rights being challenged by a serious OTT player.

However...

Unfortunately for Spark, their content delivery model has so many moving parts. It is entirely possible that their hardware and software could do an excellent job, yet their stream could still fall over for a variety of reasons completely outside of their control.

They do have TVNZ to fall back on. I wonder though, if they had issues and had to switch over to TVNZ...and then TVNZ On Demand suddenly had a massive spike of users streaming...that could be another headache?

Let's see what happens. Even if they stream ok, their stream rate of 30fps is going to give consumers a relatively poor quality product compared to what many are used to. Will be interesting to see what the masses make of it.

[mistaTea]

https://thespinoff.co.nz/sports/17-0...rom-the-field/

[Marilyn Munroe]

Prediction is hard but I'm not going to let that stop me.

The link mistaTea posts above is interesting. Bur I come to a different conclusion than the writer.

The battle between SKY and Spark will produce a winner but it will be a battle victory rather than winning the war.

The article mentions some sports franchisers going direct to viewers but discounts this for Rugby because of unknowns about technical issues.

History is littered with incumbents who assume opponents technical difficulties will give them continued superiority on the battle field.

There a two factors which herald change, the AV1 open video codec and the high penetration rate of domestic fiber in New Zealand.

Boop boop de do
Marilyn

[ratkin]

Yes that is true - and if Spark are able to retain credibility (which a successful RWC stream would achieve) it will keep Sky honest. No way would Sky have implemented so many changes so quickly without Spark Sport existing. In fact, it is unclear if John Fellet would have resigned and brought Martin on without the increased pressure of Sports rights being challenged by a serious OTT player.

However...

Unfortunately for Spark, their content delivery model has so many moving parts. It is entirely possible that their hardware and software could do an excellent job, yet their stream could still fall over for a variety of reasons completely outside of their control.

They do have TVNZ to fall back on. I wonder though, if they had issues and had to switch over to TVNZ...and then TVNZ On Demand suddenly had a massive spike of users streaming...that could be another headache?

Let's see what happens. Even if they stream ok, their stream rate of 30fps is going to give consumers a relatively poor quality product compared to what many are used to. Will be interesting to see what the masses make of it.

The premier league is being streamed really well by Spark, have heard nothing but good things from fellow subscribers. They all really enjoying the actual games and the extensive array of available highlights

[mistaTea]

The premier league is being streamed really well by Spark...

There have been a few hiccups, but overall not a disaster and most people have been happy with the service I believe.

They have a small audience right now though - less than 20,000, or so I read.

Sky Sport just released stats on viewership for the Bledisloe match. 500K satellite views, and 55K via internet (Sky Sport NOW).

So even though Sky Sport NOW is new and only has about 10% of Sky's sports viewers...it still had a lot more traffic than the Spark Sport platform so far.

When Spark have hundreds of thousands of viewers streaming key RWC matches on their platform, it will be a different story. I am not suggesting their platform can't cope with the traffic (I have no reason to believe that they will not succeed in streaming) - but if a certain % of their viewers consistently have issues (irrespective if the issue is caused by something in Spark's control or not) then the sheer volume of complaints could potentially be very large.

Streaming is difficult. Spark have certainly put processes in place to give themselves the best chance - but we will just have to wait and see how they go.

And they are a long way off from being able to boast a service that has the same quality and is as reliable as Sky TV imho.

[steveb]

I wonder how many views they had on Prime?

My personal opinion would be that Spark have so much riding on the world cup,they are going to put a huge effort into getting it right,but if you fancy a punt buy some Sky shares now and hope for a balls up!

[Baa_Baa]

There have been a few hiccups, but overall not a disaster and most people have been happy with the service I believe.

They have a small audience right now though - less than 20,000, or so I read.

Sky Sport just released stats on viewership for the Bledisloe match. 500K satellite views, and 55K via internet (Sky Sport NOW).

So even though Sky Sport NOW is new and only has about 10% of Sky's sports viewers...it still had a lot more traffic than the Spark Sport platform so far.

When Spark have hundreds of thousands of viewers streaming key RWC matches on their platform, it will be a different story. I am not suggesting their platform can't cope with the traffic (I have no reason to believe that they will not succeed in streaming) - but if a certain % of their viewers consistently have issues (irrespective if the issue is caused by something in Spark's control or not) then the sheer volume of complaints could potentially be very large.

Streaming is difficult. Spark have certainly put processes in place to give themselves the best chance - but we will just have to wait and see how they go.

And they are a long way off from being able to boast a service that has the same quality and is as reliable as Sky TV imho.

Just to be clear, Spark have outsourced the livestream platform provision to https://www.istreamplanet.com scroll down the page have have a look at the numbers of concurrent viewers they boast and the big brand events they've hosted.

[mistaTea]

Just to be clear, Spark have outsourced the livestream platform provision to https://www.istreamplanet.com scroll down the page have have a look at the numbers of concurrent viewers they boast and the big brand events they've hosted.

Yes I think their relationship with their platform streaming provider is well understood. It has certainly been well documented.

Which is why, if there are any issues, I don’t think it will be due to any issues within Sparks control. They have partnered with a reputable organisation that boast best in breed sport streaming apps etc.

If there is an issue for them it will more likely be due to all of the other moving parts outside their influence and/or customer equipment issues etc

Of course they may also stream the entire tournament without a single mishap or glitch.

[clearasmud]

Hi guys I'm in today for the divis.
Am I dumb?