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*Official* 2022 New Zealand Tour of England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands

ashley bach

International Captain
It may have changed, but when it first went to Spark the Backbencher and presumably a lot of pubs didn't have Spark. I think the best exposure recently has come from the Black Clash on TV1 which attracts big audiences because All Blacks are involved.
Since its inception Spark has been nothing but total S H I T for everyone concerned.
Bugger bringing back Buck, bring back sky ffs.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Since its inception Spark has been nothing but total S H I T for everyone concerned.
Bugger bringing back Buck, bring back sky ffs.
Nah bro, sky were an awful monopoly who never entered the 21st century because they had no competition. Have you ever used the SkyGo app? It's the most broken **** that's ever existed. I hate them. The best thing that ever happened to nz Sport streaming was sky losing the world cup.

Spark Sport app leaves SkyGo in the dust and is much more affordable. 9/10 times it works, but that 10th time is a huge crash. SkyGo con-sta-ntly ji-tters like this, usually when the bowler has just released th-
 

ashley bach

International Captain
I'm not even sure what sky go is to be honest. All I know is you used to push a button and the cricket was on.
Now it's poke and prod about and wait for the stream to come, and then it's about a minute delayed which is just hopeless.
Everyone I know who has something to do with Spark isn't happy about it.
Don't care who has what rights, just want to flick on and see, like the good old days.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
The competition aspect of Spark is definitely a good thing, and it really helped Sky Sports pull its socks up with its own streaming service as Flem mentioned. I've really enjoyed being able to miss a session's play and then just be instantly able to load it up, skip through the time between balls, and catch up with the play without having to spoil myself about the score.

I do think that Spark has been dialing back its investment in cricket (absence of guest commentators has been quite noticeable), and I don't have great confidence in its long-run prospects now that it's lost the Premier League. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Spark selling the NZC cricket rights back to Sky in a couple of years time.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
The one absolute undoubted positive of Spark has been the amount of cricket back on FTA TV. Having half of the Supersmash games on FTA has made a huge impact on the amount of public interest in the competition which has really helped with attendances at the games. I couldn't believe the atmosphere at the 2020 Supersmash final with a packed Basin, reminded me of the experience of going to the Shell Cup finals in the 90's.
 

TheBrand

First Class Debutant
Yeah Spark is great, and having some close colleagues who work there, sounds like execs are very happy with cricket at the moment.

I hope NZC announce shortly who has the rights to the white ball games in Ireland/Scotland/Netherlands though....
 

kaetor

U19 Cricketer
Spark isn't an amazing service, but it's much better as an on demand service than Sky (which to be fair isn't designed to be). It's a more modern service at any rate. Cheaper than sky, and doesn't require specific hardware. Although I can understand that it's more 'technical' in that you can't just switch to a channel like you can with sky, but I'm sure smart TV's don't make it too hard? I'm not sure as I chromecast everything with my cheap dumb TV.

It is frustrating with the content split, whether a series is on Sky, Spark or not at all (I can't find anyone showing Aus/Sri Lanka?). And defs don't want to pay for both, but the monopoly Sky had wasn't healthy either, their prices became truly ridiculous really. $25 a month for Spark with cricket, f1 and football is good value for me, and I can easily cancel and re-subscribe in months where I'm not using it.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Spark doesn't have a dedicated smart TV/console app, which is something they really need to get on to. Chromecast works fine, but it would be better if you didn't have to fork out an extra $60 bucks just to watch your cricket on the TV (though tbf, I have Chromecast and I watched the entirety of this series on my laptop in bed).
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Well there you go, I guess my TV is too stoopid to access it. Still feel they should develop an app for consoles like Sky has.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Ah, so there is one, but it's available on a fairly limited range of models at the moment:
Smart TVs
You can currently install the app on the following smart TVs:

Panasonic

2017 - 2021 models. Visit Panasonic Smart TV Setup

Samsung

2017 - 2021 models. Visit Samsung Smart TV Setup

Sony Android

2017 - 2021 models. Visit Sony Android TV Setup

LG Smart TV

2019 - 2021 models. Visit LG Smart TV Setup
My Samsung is from 2016. :dry:
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
If I remember I'll ask one of the Playstation guys next time I'm at work if they're working on it. I'd guess they probably are
 

DougieRydal

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
I think SparkSport is a great product, Sky Sport Now is the best comparison as it's Sky's standalone streaming product, rather than Sky GO which piggybacks off the set top box, and it's pic quality is mediocre.

Having tried both Sky's offerings I'd say SKYGo is the better of the two.

I'm concerned about SKY getting the EPL rights back, their streaming option pales in comparison to Sky's. SKY could do well to simply copy Spark...
 

jcas0167

International Debutant
Spark isn't an amazing service, but it's much better as an on demand service than Sky (which to be fair isn't designed to be). It's a more modern service at any rate. Cheaper than sky, and doesn't require specific hardware. Although I can understand that it's more 'technical' in that you can't just switch to a channel like you can with sky, but I'm sure smart TV's don't make it too hard? I'm not sure as I chromecast everything with my cheap dumb TV.

It is frustrating with the content split, whether a series is on Sky, Spark or not at all (I can't find anyone showing Aus/Sri Lanka?). And defs don't want to pay for both, but the monopoly Sky had wasn't healthy either, their prices became truly ridiculous really. $25 a month for Spark with cricket, f1 and football is good value for me, and I can easily cancel and re-subscribe in months where I'm not using it.
I've got Spark and the Sky Sport Now app which is 39.99 a month. I agree the Spark offering is good value at $25 a month although I've been surprised at some people who generally follow cricket who don't have it even though they could easily afford it. It worries me that a lot of casuals will lose touch with cricket.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I've got Spark and the Sky Sport Now app which is 39.99 a month. I agree the Spark offering is good value at $25 a month although I've been surprised at some people who generally follow cricket who don't have it even though they could easily afford it. It worries me that a lot of casuals will lose touch with cricket.
There's too many things these days. In the past, you either had terrestrial tv, or you had that + Sky. It was only one thing to purchase. Now, if you want a decent range of sport, you have to buy Sky and Spark. Then, perhaps you've got netflix or amazon or disney. This isn't choice for the consumer - it's a way of leveraging more money out of us.
 

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