Sports fans are concerned about the reliability of streaming service Spark Sport after a major error in yesterday's live stream of the women's Black Sticks game.
Spark Sport says it was down to 'human error' by its platform provider in the United States, but its left rugby fans worried about the broadcasting as the Rugby World Cup approaches.
The ANZAC day Pro League hockey clash between New Zealand and Australia didn't end well for the women's Black Sticks and it didn't well either for those trying to watch it.
"It just disappeared off the screen and I was like 'oh god what have I done wrong there's something wrong with the laptop'," said sports fan Rachel Chidlow
Chidlow was trying to watch it on Spark Sport's new streaming service. She wasn't the only one having problems.
And while they eventually got the stream up and running, it's left many subscribers disillusioned.
"That's the first time I've ever tried to use it - I'm not going to bother again," said Chidlow.
In a statement today Spark Sport said the issue was down to 'human error' at its platform provider iStreamPlanet in the U.S.
It says it will be reviewing the issue intensively, to make sure there isn't a repeat.
But there have been problems with the service before - it failed during Formula One coverage earlier this month.
And with Spark Sport holding the broadcasting rights for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, viewers are getting worried.
Spark Sport Head Jeff Latch has previously assured rugby fans there won't be any problems.
"We are very confident this is going to work, we certainly don't want to mess this up," said Latch.
Latch is still confident telling us in a statement today that yesterday's failure does not impact its ability to deliver the Ruby World Cup.
He says there weren't any technical problems with the live stream once it was up and running, but human scheduling error meant it wasn't up on time.
For now, sports fans are waiting nervously to see how that game plan really plays out.
Newshub.
