When Optus "shocked the Australian sporting landscape by buying the rights for the English Premier League," there were "murmurs of discontent within the football fraternity," according to Jamie Marcuson of THE AGE. The murmurs "grew to howls of disapproval after Optus released their packages and plans." When the Premier League started over the weekend, fans got "back to the important part:" the football -- or "maybe not." Football fans "went ballistic on Twitter after streams of the games were reported intermittently cutting out," showing poor-quality images and suffering delays. The hashtag #OptusOut "began trending as the worst of the problems occurred" during Sunday night's ManU vs. Bournemouth and Arsenal vs. Liverpool games. The "live" feed of the games "was reportedly delayed by as much as 60 seconds." An Optus spokesperson said that the disruption "was caused by the Premier League satellite service, not the Optus network." The spokesperson said, "Optus can confirm that there was a 30-second transmission disruption during the broadcast of last night's Premier League match between Bournemouth vs. Manchester United. We have been advised by the Premier League that the disruption was caused by their satellite distribution supplier." The spokesperson confirmed that the delays in the telecast are "consistent with the viewing experience on other web-based or App content services currently operating in Australia" (THE AGE, 8/15).
