Spark and RWC

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#2183506 19-Feb-2019 10:53

Agreed. That wouldn't be an issue for households that already stream as they have already needed to deal with that. Of the remainder that are non streamers, any, where the modem/router or router is located reasonably nearby will be ok. These last ones past that will need to be handheld to get a Chromecast connected and wifi if any issues, and be assisted with. The demographic here should be pretty small, Rugby fans who dont want to know about the internet. I would expect that many non IT literate older people have a tablet and that also bridges the gap quite well, as that becomes the RWC device, albeit preferable to cast it to the telly

The issue I could see, is that these people need to sort this out before the RWC, not the day before. Maybe there might be pre coverage of older RWC matches that newbies can work through the setup with

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#2183509 19-Feb-2019 10:59

cyril7:

Yep, flaky wifi, poor dsl connections (ie no or incorrectly installed filtering) is going to be the potential failing of this exercise.

At least with Sky, they control the quality of the box, signal reception and reticulation to ensure good if not faultless performance, not so with streaming, the ISP posts out a modem and hopes for the best.

Users who would have been using services like Netflix would have already had to deal with improving in home reticulation, but a vast majority that just facebook and email will have not.

Cyril

I would doubt its a vast majority. I see many people who are averse to IT, don't understand the internet but are happily emailing, browsing etc . They also know the same (zero) about cars but they happily drive them too.

It all comes down to how many have poor DSL, or poor wifi, that never stream and have no idea, and who are rugby fans

Benoire

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#2183511 19-Feb-2019 11:02

One of the interesting interactions is with households with multiple people, i.e. the family. We have enough devices to stream 2 HD netflix, lightbox, youtube and Spark Sports at the same time. Now, with only 4 in the family we are likely to have a netflix, youtube, lightbox or Netflix and Sports. That's potentially 4 concurrent streams at HD quality which might saturate non-UFB connections to the point of image degradation. Would a user simply blame the source, i.e. spark or their usage? The effect on Spark from poor performance concurrency must not be understated as it could be catastrophic for future registrations if non-ufb performance is low and as not everyone has UFB yet this will be a critical year for their messaging that its not their fault etc.

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#2183512 19-Feb-2019 11:04

Benoire:

One of the interesting interactions is with households with multiple people, i.e. the family. We have enough devices to stream 2 HD netflix, lightbox, youtube and Spark Sports at the same time. Now, with only 4 in the family we are likely to have a netflix, youtube, lightbox or Netflix and Sports. That's potentially 4 concurrent streams at HD quality which might saturate non-UFB connections to the point of image degradation. Would a user simply blame the source, i.e. spark or their usage? The effect on Spark from poor performance concurrency must not be understated as it could be catastrophic for future registrations if non-ufb performance is low and as not everyone has UFB yet this will be a critical year for their messaging that its not their fault etc.

Yup, also a good point. I have seen UFB 30/10 connections drowned in a home environment many times.

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#2183516 19-Feb-2019 11:08

As a note on my point above, I have 30/7 VDSL that struggles with 4 concurrent streams. My sport is currently via Sky so I'm not affected but I did the test out of curiosity! It will get worse if kids get to internet playing age before I get UFB as latency will be affected as bandwidth is used up.

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#2183522 19-Feb-2019 11:20

Good point. But which devil do you want this year? Before, it was bad Sky as we can't afford Sky, even the 6 month deal so we miss out. Now it might be bad Spark, a different set of those that will or may miss out. One minute it's bagging Sky for using 1980's tech, now it 's bagging Spark for using 2019 tech.

I have Sky Sport, I would prefer that than using VOD or live streaming. But its not that way this year. Same with my F1. Its the way it is

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#2183524 19-Feb-2019 11:22

I have not heard a single story of people who wanted to watch the recording who complained the price wasn't accessible. Spark is also charging and chances are if you can't afford sky you won't want to pay for spark either

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#2183529 19-Feb-2019 11:24

I know people who "can't" afford Sky who watch rugby at the pub and drink way more than the cost of a month of Sky. If something is important to you, it will get a priority. There are genuine cases of people who can't afford it and it will be fta on tvnz for them

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#2183535 19-Feb-2019 11:32

So no one has an issue with getting Sky for at least 6 months? Every year this comes up, not everyone can afford it, its the national sport and so on.

6 months Sky is not the same as the early suggested $100 for Spark. As you say, part of it is on FTA

Your concern is will it be fine for you, so you are not wanting the RWC via the internet. I get that and I share the same concerns, but either way, some miss out. No one will miss out on the final or the opening match and 5 others.

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#2183550 19-Feb-2019 12:00

tdgeek:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=12204320

I don't quite follow the below

Making the issue more complicated is the fact that many All Blacks fans in New Zealand are going to have to get to grips with the technology involved in connecting to wifi in order to watch every All Black game live. In some cases they will have to update their televisions.

The first part I don't get as apparently.... streaming is everywhere, its todays tech, Sky is gone, and so on....

The second part, are there still a few people with CRT TV's still? Who has to upgrade their TV?

It always amuses me to see geeky types make observations like this. Assuming that everyone else operates at the same level is the first big mistake.

Plenty of folks roll along using CRT's. Plenty more with non-smart flatscreens. And almost all of those will use a combination of devices which is likely to include Freeview, Sky, a DVD player and/or a VCR (yes, still).

Heck I still have at least one relative without Internet.

No signature to see here, move along...

tdgeek

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#2183553 19-Feb-2019 12:10

BlakJak:

tdgeek:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=12204320

I don't quite follow the below

Making the issue more complicated is the fact that many All Blacks fans in New Zealand are going to have to get to grips with the technology involved in connecting to wifi in order to watch every All Black game live. In some cases they will have to update their televisions.

The first part I don't get as apparently.... streaming is everywhere, its todays tech, Sky is gone, and so on....

The second part, are there still a few people with CRT TV's still? Who has to upgrade their TV?

It always amuses me to see geeky types make observations like this. Assuming that everyone else operates at the same level is the first big mistake.

Plenty of folks roll along using CRT's. Plenty more with non-smart flatscreens. And almost all of those will use a combination of devices which is likely to include Freeview, Sky, a DVD player and/or a VCR (yes, still).

Heck I still have at least one relative without Internet.

I didnt assume everyone else has what geeky types have. I assumed a small number are at the bottom of this ladder, and many who like them who have no idea, do have tablets etc, therefore capability

If they have CRT then yes they are out. I'd love to see CRT numbers, that would have to be super low

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#2183556 19-Feb-2019 12:19

Spark will no doubt have done their due diligence on subscriber thresholds etc. to make this work; my concerns simply relate to the technical aspects in a pre-UFB ubiquitous world. Sure there will be some who do not have a smart TV, do not have internet, do not have a smart phone etc. and yes they will miss out much like if you didn't have Sky you generally missed out... however I'd be more concerned with this 1st year and potential impacts on future subs if Spark either performs poorly or runs in to general saturation issues on individual networks.

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#2183564 19-Feb-2019 12:25

Benoire:

Spark will no doubt have done their due diligence on subscriber thresholds etc. to make this work; my concerns simply relate to the technical aspects in a pre-UFB ubiquitous world. Sure there will be some who do not have a smart TV, do not have internet, do not have a smart phone etc. and yes they will miss out much like if you didn't have Sky you generally missed out... however I'd be more concerned with this 1st year and potential impacts on future subs if Spark either performs poorly or runs in to general saturation issues on individual networks.

100% agree. Its new. I'd prefer it was on Sky, and for me, its not the RWC that is my issue its F1. I'm not bothered about the extra cost, which might be around $340 this year and $240 every other year, (my guess). Its about the quality of the experience. The video impressed me, that there is a lot of due diligence going on. The Herald article states that TVNZ is the backup for RWC, so that's sorted. The end result should be good, I hope so.

Edit yes, I have all my services with Spark, although thats not relevant at all. The issue is will streaming work and will the provider do it well.

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#2183577 19-Feb-2019 12:47

Must keep in mind its a multi stream service supporting from a few 100kb/s to 6Mb/s so potentially even quite poor performing end user arrangments will work, obviously with a cut in quality.

Cyril

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#2183581 19-Feb-2019 12:54

tdgeek:

So no one has an issue with getting Sky for at least 6 months? Every year this comes up, not everyone can afford it, its the national sport and so on.

6 months Sky is not the same as the early suggested $100 for Spark. As you say, part of it is on FTA

Your concern is will it be fine for you, so you are not wanting the RWC via the internet. I get that and I share the same concerns, but either way, some miss out. No one will miss out on the final or the opening match and 5 others.

I don't recall any media coverage of the past RWC's being unaffordable for people previously? There are always who don't WANT to pay it, but those who are big enough fans will usually prioritize spending appropriately. I can think of many at GZ who endlessly complain how expensive it is, but it's the same as a night out at the movies, or dinner out with a very average bottle of wine. I do understand there are people who can't afford to do these things, but those who are hardcore fans unsatisfied with the FTA coverage, would be smallish. If they won't pay for Sky, then I suspect fast enough internet, Chrome casts, good wifi and a suitable TV are probably low on their priority list too. There will be many venues showing the games free of charge too I suspect.

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