Optus insisted that "its technology and broadband infrastructure will be robust enough to handle the demands of live streaming multiple English Premier League football matches at once next season, despite experts," including National Broadband Network CEO Bill Morrow, saying existing infrastructure is "not up to the task," according to Paul Smith of the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW. The country's second largest telecom revealed last week that "it will deliver the exclusive football coverage it won from Foxtel last November entirely via the internet, with only one live match a week being screened on traditional broadcast television via SBS." With less than one million Australian homes connected to the national broadband network, social media "was immediately alight with fans concerned that -- even if they can subscribe -- they will be left watching laggy or low quality images." Morrow said, "You can't really say that everyone can suddenly move to online streaming for sports without that broadcast network, because some places don't get it." Optus "is offering a satellite service for some prospective EPL customers that live in remote areas, but it will be much more expensive and not available to all homes" (AFR, 5/10).
'HEADS WILL ROLL': CHANNEL NEWS' David Richards wrote a leading industry exec has described the recent Optus EPL announcement as a "complete PR balls up." They claim that "the carrier’s PR department are to blame for the massive backlash" that came about after the company announced new packages last week.
They said that the announcement was handled "poorly" however they doubt that when the games go live that fans will not sign up for the new service. Internally management are believed to be "furious" as to the way in which the Optus PR department handled the announcement. A senior exec close to the decision making process said, "Heads will roll" (CHANNEL NEWS, 5/9).
