What it will cost to watch

Spark has revealed what it will cost to watch the 2019 Rugby World Cup through its Spark Sport app — plus a cover-its-bets approach that will see 12 games screen live or delayed on free-to-air partner TVNZ.

Those who buy a “super early bird” pass in May will pay $59.99 to watch live every Rugby World Cup match.

From June to early September, the price will be $79.99.

Then in the “final few days” before the tournament starts on September 21 in Japan, the cost will rise to $89.99.

Single match passes will also be available for $24.99 once the tournament is under way.

Spark has also confirmed rumours it will take a conservative approach, with 12 games also screening on freeto-air partner TVNZ, and a fallback plan — as first revealed by the Herald on February 15 — for other games to be transferred to TVNZ’s Duke channel “within a few minutes” in the event of technical glitches like those that ruined Optus’ attempts to stream the Fifa World Cup to an Australian audience last year.

The free games will be a mix of live and a one- or two-hour delay, following the model Sky used with its Prime channel.

Spark has so far released web, iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android versions of its Spark Sport app.

Spark Sport was launched for the Melbourne Grand Prix in mid-March, priced at $19.99 a month. That price included all the sports in the Spark Sport stable bar the Rugby World Cup. You don’t have to be a Spark customer to buy Spark Sport. Spark says you can choose to buy a RWC pass only. The new sports streamer had a few technical wobbles with the second race of the Grand Prix with some on-demand footage freezing, but Spark said it was a process and human error issue rather than a technical problem and pledged to use the next few months to smooth it all out.

Last week, Samsung said it would be the first smart TV maker to support the Spark Sport app, which will be added to models going back to 2016.

Other TV makers are expected to announce their plans shortly, and Spark is expected to announce the availability of the Spark Sport app for more devices before RWC kick-off.

Departing boss Simon Moutter has noted Lightbox, Netflix and other streaming services have educated hundreds of thousands of households about streaming. But a huge education campaign is still needed between now and RWC kick-off.