Commission looks at Sky Sport Now

The Commerce Commission is looking into whether Sky TV may have breached the Fair Trading Act after changes to its sport streaming service sparked a flurry of complaints.

The Sky Sport Now app was updated on August 22 to introduce new features and boost picture quality.

While Sky said the upgrade had been ‘‘largely successful,’’ complaints about the app’s performance poured in, with users reporting problems with repeated buffering, freezing and poor image quality.

On Thursday, the commission’s general manager of fair trading, Vanessa Horne, said eight complaints about Sky Sport Now had been received since August 22.

‘‘The commission will be assessing these to understand whether there has been any potential breach of the Fair Trading Act, the level of harm caused and whether we will need to take action and what that could look like,’’ Horne said.

Responding to news of the commission’s activity, Sky TV spokesperson Kirsty Way said Sky was working with ‘‘a small number’’ of customers who had experienced issues after the upgrade.

‘‘We have done several app updates to further improve the viewing experience. If customers have any outstanding issues we welcome hearing from them,’’ she said.

Consumer NZ spokesperson Jessica Walker said under the Consumer Guarantees Act, services must fit for purpose.

‘‘If a consumer pays for a streaming service, but it doesn’t work properly, we suggest they contact the provider and insist it fixes the problem.’’

If the provider couldn’t resolve the issue, or didn’t fix it within a reasonable time, customers could cancel their contract and ask for a refund, Walker said.

Customers who didn’t want to cancel their contract could still ask for a refund or credit as compensation for the service not working.