Someone didn’t ‘press the button’ for hockey: Spark

Spark has blamed ‘‘human error’’ at Spark Sport’s United States technology provider, iStreamPlanet, for its failure to live-stream the whole of the women’s Black Sticks’ game against Australia on Anzac Day.

Spark Sport head Jeff Latch did not respond to a request for further comment but spokesman Andrew Pirie said it was a case of someone ‘‘not pressing the button’’ to start the live-stream.

That might be a ‘‘slight oversimplification’’ but that was essentially what had happened, he said.

‘‘Technically the platform is working fine. It is just very unfortunate and disappointing that something like this would cause a problem.’’

Pirie believed the live-stream began partway through the first quarter of the match, which Australia won 5-1.

The problem arose as Spark already faces intense scrutiny over its ability to successfully screen the Rugby World Cup in Japan in September.

Spark spokeswoman Samantha Smith said yesterday that ‘‘a human error at our platform provider, iStreamPlanet, meant the streaming of the game started late, which meant fans missed the start of the game’’.

‘‘The error is something that we will be reviewing intensively with iStreamPlanet to make sure there isn’t any repeat for future events.’’ Although the error was with its platform provider, it was not a technical error, she also emphasised.

‘‘The actual streaming service worked very well once it began – both for the rest of the live women’s match and for the men’s match that followed a couple of hours later.’’

Spark had announced when the game was due to start that coverage had been ‘‘delayed due to technical difficulties’’, with that information given out on Spark Sport’s Twitter feed.

When Spark Sport announced in November that it had selected iStreamPlanet to underpin its sports streaming service, chief financial officer David Chalmers put heavy emphasis on its experience streaming events such as the US Super Bowl.

Chalmers said then that iStreamPlanet had sports streaming in its ‘‘DNA, having been in the online sport streaming game for 15 years’’.

‘‘They use leading cloud technologies to provide a reliable, scalable and exceptionally high-quality video experience for sports fans – and that is exactly what we want to provide New Zealanders for the Rugby World Cup 2019,’’ he said, announcing its contract with Spark.

Smith said the hockey match error ‘‘does not impact our position regarding our ability to deliver the Rugby World Cup’’.

Sky Television has vowed to remain ‘‘the home of sport’’ in the face of competition from Spark Sport.

Its spokeswoman Kristy Martin said it would not be commenting on Spark’s problems in streaming the hockey game.

PHOTOSPORT Ella Gunson, of New Zealand, right, clashes with Malone Ambrosia, of Australia, in the Pro League hockey match at North Harbour Hockey Stadium on Thursday. Spark says it will be ‘‘intensively reviewing’’ what went wrong with the streaming of the game.