2019 Rugby World Cup: Spark Sport to show Wales v Georgia exclusively

Spark Sport have promised viewers that they have addressed the problems that caused streaming issues during the 2019 Rugby World Cup this weekend.

Spark were forced to host World Cup games on free-to-air television channel Duke yesterday, after disruptions to customers' viewing of the All Blacks v Springboks clash.

However, the company today revealed that tonight's World Cup encounter between Wales and Georgia will solely be hosted on Spark Sport, saying that they had addressed the issue.

"Coverage of tonight's Wales v Georgia match will stream live and exclusive on Spark Sport.

"We have addressed the issue that impacted some viewers during Saturday's NZ v SA match, and we're excited to bring you tonight's match. Coverage kicks off at 10.15pm," Spark said.

Coverage of tonight’s Wales v Georgia match will stream live and exclusive on Spark Sport. We have addressed the issue that impacted some viewers during Saturday’s NZ v SA match, and we’re excited to bring you tonight’s match. Coverage kicks off at 10.15pm. #WALvGEO

— Spark Sport (@sparknzsport) September 23, 2019

Spark earlier investigating why its international streaming feed was disrupted midway through the All Blacks' epic Rugby World Cup encounter, forcing it to screen the game live on free-to-air TVNZ.

The telecoms giant says the issues - including buffering and pixelated images for some customers - was not caused by New Zealand's broadband capacity.

In a statement early on Sunday, Spark said: "The root cause of the video streaming issue is still being investigated with our international streaming partners. However, 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."

The match was initially delayed by an hour for free-to-air viewers on TVNZ but the second half was aired live after Spark said they were "uncomfortable" with the quality of the streams that some customers were receiving.

"Midway through the first half we identified that the quality of the video stream was fluctuating for some customers," the company said in a statement.

"This meant that customers experienced brief, intermittent periods of reduced video quality such as pixilation and buffering.

"We were uncomfortable at the quality of the experience our customers were getting and, as we always said we would, we moved quickly to provide them with an alternative means of watching the match. We had prior established procedures with our partner TVNZ to enable live, free-to-air coverage at short notice."

The game, which the All Blacks won 23-13, saw a maximum of 132,000 people streaming via the service, and while still uncertain of the cause of the problem, Spark assured their customers it wasn't an issue related to New Zealand broadband.

"There were not the same video quality problems during the day's two earlier matches. Although some customers needed help from our care teams at times during the day, for the most part these related to isolated device issues and in-home set up."

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