Peters vows action on broadcast

Viewers sent images of TV screens while watching the Spark Sport coverage. Photo: NZ Herald/Supplied

Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters says Spark's streaming of last night's World Cup match between the All Blacks and South Africa was an ''abject disaster''.

And he has vowed that the Government will get to the bottom of the issue.

Spark pledge: World Cup service will deliver

''I can assure you we will find out as fast as possible as to what on earth is not going on,'' he told Newstalk ZB yesterday.

Winston Peters. Photo: Getty Images

Spark simulcast yesterday's Rugby World Cup games free to air on TVNZ after glitches with its streaming service during last night's key All Blacks game.

It also said customers unhappy with Saturday's service can request refunds.

Unhappy customers would be required to fill in the refund form by no later than 11.59pm on September 29.

Spark's video streaming service cut out for some fans during the match, as images of the game flickered, pixelated, blurred and buffered, or they lost signal altogether. Spark blamed the problems on the overseas network that supplied the live stream.

Spark said the video stream is passed from its streaming platform in the United States via the network to broadband providers in New Zealand.

It said in a statement yesterday afternoon it is now confident the improvements it has made means it can provide a good viewing experience, ''but if customers are in any way unhappy with their stream, they will have the opportunity to watch on TVNZ Duke''.

Mr Peters, who was forced to watch much of the game on his phone as the stream on his TV was interrupted, said Spark should have been better prepared for the event.

''They [Spark] were told to get ready and we hoped that they would be ready and they promised us that they would be and they're not.

''It's not satisfactory.''

Asked if the Government was in contact with Spark over the issue, Mr Peters said Spark was probably ''beleaguered with all sorts of phone calls at the moment''.

''I didn't want to wait around for a couple of hours like everyone else.''

He said the Government was doing all it could to figure out what did, or did not, happen last night.

Mr Peters said there should be what he called a ''happy balance'', where the State steps in and makes major sporting events free to air, as is the case in other countries like the UK and Australia.

He said when it comes to the key games such as the quarter, semi and the final stages all those games would be free to air.

''For the first time, you're going to see them without cost, live in New Zealand.''