Spark buys rights to rally it can’t sell
Spark has irritated some sports fans by snaffling up the New Zealand broadcast rights to the FIA World Rally Championship that kicks off in Monte Carlo overnight without yet having a platform to show the event.
The telecommunications company announced in December that it had acquired the rights to the 14-round rally competition that runs from January until November.
The head of Spark Sport, Jeff Latch, said at the time that the World Rally Championship (WRC) cemented Spark Sport as a destination for motorsports fans.
‘‘Spark Sport will stream rallies live and will also host a variety of highlights content,’’ Latch said.
However, the company has said its Spark Sport platform, through which it will sell and stream its sports programming, will not be ready until later in the first quarter of this year.
The rally championship will then be included in the price of a Spark Sport monthly subscription ‘‘which also includes access to all Formula 1 content’’.
In the meantime, Spark has advised rally fans who want to watch the first round to buy an online subscription direct from the event organiser, WRC+, at a price of between €4.99 (NZ$8.30) and €8.99 a month.
However, some fans have complained on social media that they don’t know how long they should sign up to the WRC+ app for, and questioned why Spark did not give away the coverage on free-toair television instead.
Spark spokeswoman Ellie Cross said Spark Sport would be live to cover the first Formula 1 race of the season in Melbourne on March 14.
‘‘It was never the intention to launch in time for the start of the WRC – and we do look forward to sharing the vast majority of the year-long season with fans via Spark Sport,’’ she said.
The WRC is not the only event Spark has bought rights to without yet having the ability to sell.
Details from what Spark spokeswoman Elle Dorset said was an ‘‘internal document’’ were posted to tech website Geekzone.
Basketball fans need to buy an NBA League Pass to watch the NBA season until Spark Sport goes live, after which they will be able to watch ‘‘six or seven’’ NBA games per week included in the price of a monthly subscription.
As previously announced by Spark, FIH Black Sticks matches – which kick off in the Netherlands on Sunday night – will be broadcast free-to-air on TVNZ 2 until Spark Sport launches, after which they will available ‘‘exclusively from Spark Sport’’.