The real cost of watching the All Blacks next year
The cost to New Zealanders to watch their heroes throughout 2019 is adding up.
READY to watch the All Blacks in your living room next year ? Looking forward to enjoying the buildup tests during our winter and then the World Cup which starts in Japan on September 20, 2019? Then start saving.
Some World Cup games are free to air on TVNZ. All of them streamed by Spark for around $100.
It sounds pretty sweet, and for a lot of Kiwis it will be. But for a substantial group it’ll be a lot more expensive than it looks at a glance, and for some it’ll be difficult.
To explain, let’s tick off exactly what you’ll need for a seamless, full immersion, All Blacks’ television experience next year.
You’ll want to have a Sky subscription to watch the All Blacks playing the Wallabies, the Pumas, and the Springboks in the months before the World Cup.
Sky at the moment charges $24.91 for a basic package, to which you have to add $29.90 to get the sports channels, to see the All Blacks in their lead-up tests.
Then, now that Sky doesn’t have rights to the World Cup, there’s that $100 or so to pay Spark. To be clear, that gets you the right to access the broadcasts of all the World Cup games. Then it’s up to you how you physically bring those games to a screen in your home – and it costs extra.
To watch the World Cup at its best, you’ll need a high speed fibre internet connection, so there are no issues with buffering, which is when the picture freezes, the way it always used to on a computer when we had dial-up internet.
You’ll also need a Smart TV set. That’s one that can connect to the internet, so you can hook up on line to Spark.
So far so good, right? If you’re a rugby tragic and already have Sky, the only cost that you don’t already pay is $100, and the only thing not blindingly simple is setting up the Spark app (the software programme) you’ll need on your TV to start streaming. If you use the phrase ‘‘interweb thing’’ you might need a grandkid to help with that or you could pay about $150 for a nice technician to do it for you.
But hang on. What if your TV set isn’t a smart model, so it can’t automatically go on line?
What if you live in one of the three out of 10 New Zealand homes unlikely to have fibre by September next year?
Not all is lost, as long as you’re living well above the poverty line and it won’t be a problem to find up to $460 to make sure you can get online.
Let’s start with your TV. The simplest way would be to upgrade to a smart set. A quick look this week showed that you could buy, for example, a 32in brand name model smart TV for $460.
Too dear? You already have a perfectly adequate set, it just isn’t equipped to connect with the net?
There are two ways to get on line with a non-smart set, with devices called Google Chromecast, and Apple TV, that attach to your TV.
Chromecast is cheaper. The lowest price I found was $69. Apple TV is around the $250 mark. But Chromecast relies on you already having a tablet or a smartphone that will connect to the net. You basically drive the device through your phone. So you’ll need to cough up about $90 a month for a compatible device.
Apple TV is simpler. Your remote control will run it, and, according to my daughter, it’s so simple to operate even I could use it.
So far so potentially pretty costly. But there’s more.
Let’s look at fibre broadband, the best system available for excellent quality, high-speed streaming.
Craig Young is the CEO of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand, a non-profit body that has been around for more than 30 years, helping, as they say on their website ‘‘New Zealand make the most of the digitally connected world’’. They’re independent of the industry.
Young says it’s estimated that by the time the World Cup starts, between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of New Zealanders will have fibre in the street running past their gate.
Which, of course, means that 30 per cent to 40 per cent of Kiwis will probably not have fibre.
Young, who lives in Auckland, has fibre ordered at his home, but meanwhile relies on VDSL (Very-high-rate Digital Subscriber Line), which he says, ‘‘is the best copper based broadband you can get. But I’ve noticed recently we are starting to get delays with [the online entertainment company] Netflix, especially in loading up.’’
Does that mean a large number of rugby fans watching the same game live could cause problems? ‘‘There might be an issue.’’
There’s a happy story, and an unhappy one about actually getting fibre.
The happy one? If fibre is laid in your street, it doesn’t cost anything to have it connected to your house. A deal was struck by the government with suppliers when fibre was introduced that PHOTOSPORT connections from the road to a house would be free. (If you’re on a back section there may be a charge.) However, it still typically costs $60-$90 a month after installation.
Not so happy? Fibre is installed street by street, in an order you can’t change. Even money can’t bump up your street’s order in the fibre chain.
One thing Young does strongly recommend is that if you do want to see the World Cup at home, you order a fibre connection as soon as possible. It’s a physical connection with cables.
‘‘It can even involve digging up your lawn. This is not a job that can be done in five minutes.’’ So there we have it. If you’ve got the money – up to $650 for Sky, $100 for Spark, about $450 for a smart TV, and $60-90 each month for a highspeed fibre connection (if it’s available), have a great time watching the All Blacks next year.