Spark Sport pricing, launch date revealed

Spark will launch its Spark Sport app in early March, in time for the Melbourne Grand Prix on the 14th to 17th of that month. You won't have to belong to Spark to use the app. Speaking exclusively to the Herald, Spark Sport head Jeff Latch said the app would cost $19.99 per month and be an all-you-can-eat service that includes all of the codes the telco has signed so far, from motorsport to NBA TV to English soccer and European rugby (see full list below). There's a single, glaring exception: the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which will be priced separately. Latch - a 23-year TVNZ veteran who joined Spark late last year - said pricing and other details around the Japan tournament will be revealed in April. Meanwhile, Spark will be covering its bets with the Melbourne Grand Prix - which will be offered live then on-demand via the Spark Sport app, but also broadcast live on TVNZ's Duke channel. A "freemium" model will see some content offered at no cost, even for those whose one-month trial has expired. For example, Formula 1 practice sessions will be available via the freemium part of the site – but if you want to watch the qualifier and final race, you'll need to be a subscriber. Latch says like any service, there will be bugs at launch, which is styled as a "beta" or test launch. Everyone who tries it will go on a one-month free trial, during which he says he hopes people provide feedback (the Herald suspects that will not be an issue; those who have problems will not hold back on social media). But he hopes Spark Sport will be robust enough that the second race in the 2019 Grand Prix series in Bahrain, March 28-31) to be offered through the app only. Last week, the Herald reported that Spark's fall-back plan if the stream goes haywire during the Rugby World Cup will be to shift a game onto TVNZ's Duke channel within five minutes. Latch refuses to confirm that. He says Spark will detail its fallback plan in April. Spark head of sport Jeff Latch says he's confident the telco's streaming service will work, but he is organising a fall-back plan - which will be revealed in April. Photo / Jason Oxenham For its early March launch, Spark Sport content will be available through the Spark Sport website, plus apps for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, which will be available through Apple and Google's app stores. Spark Sport will also work with Google Chromecast, a $70 gadget for getting internet-delivered content to a regular telly and Apple Airplay (Apple's technology for wirelessly beaming content from an iPad, MacBook or iPhone to a TV, as long a that TV has an Apple TV unit attached). Latch says support for certain brands of Samsung smart TV will be added shortly after the initial launch. Support for LG, Sony and Panasonic TVs will be added down track, along with a version of the Spark Sport app for Apple TV. With just over 200 days to go before the Rugby World Cup, there's not much "track" left to fill in those caps. Despite widespread qualms from industry insiders, and high profile streaming failures at events from the FIFA World Cup last year to the Superbowl just gone, Latch maintains he's confident Spark's livestreaming of World Cup games will be a success. He says services like Netflix and Lightbox have familiariesed many Kiwis with the ins-and-outs of streaming, but concedes a huge education campaign will be needed. Spark will have a dedicated Spark Sport helpdesk from early March. Spark says its streaming app will go live in time for the Melbourne Grand Prix, which will be staged March 14-17. Photo / Supplied. One problem that the telco just won't be able to overcome is that not all New Zealanders will be on ultrafast broadband - that is, a good enough internet connection for streaming video - by the time the World Cup kicks off in September. Latch, says 90 per cent will have good enough broadband by Cup time. Most experts would say that's an optimistic number, especially given the fact that only around 51 p...