Spark Sport says gremlin that struck EPL fixed in time today's cricket

Neil Wagner in full appeal on day three. Photo / Photosport

Spark Sport says problems that stuck its English Premier League coverage this morning were fixed in time for today's cricket.

The streaming service showed the tail-end of the Black Caps match against the West Indies from 11am today, with New Zealand on the verge of an innings victory (update: NZ wrapped up an innings and 12-run victory by midday).

There were problems with a slate of five EPL game this morning, running from the early hours of the morning through to Arsenal vs Burnley and Leicester vs Brighton, which kicked off at 8.15am NZT, with a number of outages. Each was only a few seconds long, but at times they were occurring every few minutes.

"This morning's Spark Sport connection is patchy... not much of a game to miss though," Auckland man Bill Bennett posted to Twitter.

"It was terrible for the Arsenal v Burnley game this morning. It would cut out quite often," another user, Grant Davies posted. He added, with the gallows humour of the 2020 Arsenal fan, And unfortunately for me, kept coming back on."

So what happened? "This morning we had a problem with one of our international feeds for Spark Sport which resulted in a poor viewing experience," a Spark Sport spokesman told the Herald.

Tottenham Hotspur remained top of the table following this morning's 1-1 draw with Crystal Palance. Photo / Getty

"We have now switched to an alternative feed for the cricket so customers can watch it with no issues.

"We believe this has resolved the issue for all customers but anyone still having problems should exit out of Spark Sport and re-enter to continue watching."

"We apologise to our customers for this inconvenience."

Spark Sport works with international partners to deliver its service, including the US-based iStreamPlanet and international content delivery network specialist Akamai.

This morning’s Spark Sport connection is patchy... not much of a game to miss though

— Bill Bennett (@billbennettnz) December 13, 2020

Chelsea fan Bennett did allow that gremlin were unusual these days.

"Can't remember the last morning when @sparknzsport Premier League coverage was erratic, we've come to expect a high standard," he posted in a follow-up tweet.

.@sparknzsport has added Barclays FA Women’s Super League to its roster. Two games streamed live per week plus hightlights. The top-tier English competition features 3 Kiwis:
- Ria Percival (Spurs, pictured)
- Erin Taylor (Reading)
- Rebekah Stott (Brighton & Hove Albion) pic.twitter.com/N6FRCvhMrv

— Chris Keall (@ChrisKeall) December 10, 2020