Optus has been "forced" to allow SBS to show two nights of World Cup games free as the telecom "gets to the bottom of technical troubles that have put its purpose-built Optus Sports app out of commission," according to Supratim Adhikari of THE AUSTRALIAN. The situation led to an "extraordinary intervention" from Australia PM Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull tweeted, "I have spoken with the Optus CEO, Allen Lew. He assures me he is giving the World Cup streaming problems his personal attention and he believes it will be fixed this evening." Within hours, Lew said that the simulcast deal was a "temporary measure" and games would return exclusively to the company's app by Wednesday night, by which time he believed the technical issues "would be resolved." The World Cup "marks the first time Australians have had to pay to see the full tournament" after Optus bought the exclusive rights from SBS in '16 for A$8M. An SBS spokesperson declined to confirm if "any money had changed hands between the network and Optus as part of the simulcast deal, citing commercial-in-confidence restrictions." Lew said that it was "important to give the public a temporary option" to watch Monday and Tuesday's games. However, the company "backed away from offering immediate refunds" to all non-Optus customers who paid A$15 ($11) for the app (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/19).
'FAILSAFE': In Sydney, Ansell & McDuling reported Lew said that it was important that fans were offered "a failsafe back up." He conceded the issues "would affect the company's reputation but was confident it would bounce back." Lew: "I think there is no doubt this has adversely affected the Optus brand. We believe the brand is stronger than just one event over three days, we will recover and show Australia we can be a credible multimedia company" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/18).
POSSIBLE EXTENSION: ABC NEWS' Dan Conifer reported SBS Managing Dir Michael Ebeid said that if the technical issues are not fixed within 48 hours, the simulcasting "could be extended, but for now there were no plans to." He said, "At this stage, Optus is saying they've fixed the problem. We'll see how it goes over the next two nights and then we'll get together -- as partners and broadcasters -- we'll reassess, and if we need to continue [simulcasting] we'll make that decision at the time." Ebeid said that SBS and Optus had been in talks since the early hours of the morning about the issues and that the deal did not happen because of the PM's call. Ebeid: "Optus recognized that they wanted to provide the best service possible, and they are very confident that they've fixed the issues that were causing the problem over the weekend. But they wanted to make sure that tonight and tomorrow night that they were able to to test the fixes that they put in" (ABC NEWS, 6/18). In London, Jamie Smyth reported Optus' "own goal" threatened to "embarrass the government," which has "slashed the budget of Australia’s state broadcasters." SBS is a hybrid-funded public broadcaster and the opposition Labor party "sought to link budget cuts to its failure to buy the exclusive rights" to the World Cup. Labor party leader Bill Shorten said, "Good. It should have been on SBS to begin with. And if they can't sort this out, it should stay there" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 6/18).
'CAUGHT OFF GUARD': In Sydney, Adam Turner reported Optus insisted it did not "skimp on the backend infrastructure" required to stream World Cup matches to the nation. Optus VP of Regulation & Public Affairs Andrew Sheridan said that the company was "caught off-guard" by the "strong demand" from Aussie football fans watching online during the first few days of the tournament. Sheridan: "We absolutely put a lot of investment into ensuring that we can deliver the best possible experience. I can absolutely guarantee that we did not under-cater in any shape or form." Optus' "woes" began on Friday when it failed to allow Australians to watch the match between Egypt and Uruguay. On top of this, Optus also "underestimated the number of customers who would wait until the last minute to sign up for the Optus Sport service." This "flood" of new sign-ups just before the kickoff "caused some viewers to be booted from the live stream" -- forcing them to log in again, "putting even more strain on the system" (SMH, 6/18).
