Telecommunications giant Spark has gobbled up streaming rights to another major NZ sport and made further inroads into the sports broadcasting market previously dominated by SKY.
Newly branded Spark Sport has secured the rights to all Black Sticks men's and women's hockey matches, as well as becoming host broadcaster for all international Pro League matches in New Zealand.
Perhaps more importantly, it has announced iStreamPlanet as the its new platform provider, reassuring subscribers that it can handle demand for some of the big sporting events already in its portfolio, including next year's Rugby World Cup.
- Sky TV loses Formula One rights to Spark
- Spark secures exclusive English Premier League rights for three years
- Aussies' World Cup woes raise fears over Spark rugby coverage
One of the biggest concerns over Spark's entry into the sports market has been its ability to meet demand from a technology perspective. Australian fans were hysterical earlier this year, when telcom Optus was unable to cope with the popularity of the Football World Cup and had to pass broadcast rights on to TV channel SBS.
iStreamPlanet is one of the world's leading streaming providers, supporting the Olympics, NBA League Pass and the Super Bowl.
"Spark wanted a provider capable of supporting a very large number of concurrent users, while still offering a world-class viewing experience," says Spark's executive lead for sport, David Chalmers.
"The team at iStreamPlanet has sports streaming in their DNA, having been in the online sport-streaming game for 15 years.
"They use leading cloud technologies to provide a reliable, scalable and exceptionally high-quality video experience for sports fans - and that is exactly what we want to provide New Zealanders for the Rugby World Cup 2019."
In recent months, Spark has also secured streaming rights to English Premier League football and Formula One motor racing.
The hockey deal will also see Spark take responsibility for production of local coverage for the first time.
"This deal means New Zealanders will be able to watch our national hockey teams live every time they play in New Zealan or overseas," says Spark Sport head Jeff Latch.
Newshub.
