Spark has announced its bidding farewell to the sports streaming market.
On Friday, Spark confirmed TVNZ would take over the majority of its sports content from July 1 next year, with the Spark Sport platform to be phased out.
Mst notably, its flagship cricket content will now be shown live and free-to-air on TVNZ, after the broadcaster reached a three-year deal with NZ Cricket to screen all Blackcaps, White Ferns and Super Smash matches, starting in the 2023/24 home summer.
Spark and TVNZ are now in the process of discussing the agreement with individual rights holders of others sports and will confirm final details of the rest of the content that will transfer to TVNZ in the new year.
Spark noted escalating content rights costs and a broader option of investment opportunities across its business as the key reasons for the decision.
"It has been challenging to reach the scale we aspired to across the Spark Sport platform, with Covid causing major disruption to sporting codes globally just a year after launch," said chief executive Jolie Hodson.
"That slower than expected start, coupled with the escalating costs of content rights globally, makes it difficult to justify the type of investment Spark Sport requires when we have a wider range of investment opportunities across our broader business.
"We have been working with TVNZ as our free-to-air partner on cricket since we won the rights, and this new partnership will deliver New Zealanders the largest volume of top tier free-to-air sports content in the last 20 years, while allowing us to share costs as we exit the sports streaming market.
"No new venture is without risk, and we recognise that this news will be disappointing for our valued customers and partners, and dedicated Spark Sport team.
"As the Spark Sport platform winds down we will also be working with our people to look for redeployment opportunities across our broader business wherever possible."
