64 LISTENER SEPTEMBER 14 2019
TV • TV REVIEW • RADIO • TV & RADIO LISTINGS
G
ET
TY
IM
AG
ES
I
t’s rugby, Jim, but not as we
know it. If New Zealanders
want to see all games of
the Rugby World Cup 2019
(TVNZ 1, Friday, 9.30pm),
they’re going to need a fast
internet connection and a
subscription to Spark Sport.
Perhaps it’s not such a big
leap. It was reported last year
that nearly two million Kiwis
have Netflix in their house-
hold, with Lightbox available
to about 830,000 people.
Amazon Prime Video is already
here, with Apple TV+ andDisney+ launching towards the
end of the year. There are also
more specific offerings such as
DocPlay and Stuff Pix.
Anyone with teenagers will
know that young people do
not watch “linear” television
any more, preferring their
computers or cellphones. On-
demand TV via the internet is,
basically, the future.
But the simple fact is that not
everyone has a banging inter-
net connection and can afford
subscription fees. In addition,
there are about 40,000 ruralhouseholds that don’t have a
fast enough connection.
Happily, TVNZ will be
screening 12 games free-to-air,
seven of them live, including
Friday’s opening match and
the final, which of course will
feature the All Blacks crushing
their opponents in a glori-
ous threepeat. In a surprise
announcement in July, Spark
and Sky TV announced that
there would be a pop-up chan-
nel on the Sky decoder for
pubs and clubs (see page 42 for
more information).If it seems as if the entry of
Spark Sport has complicated
the sports landscape, we’d
better get used to it. At the
same time as it announced it
had secured the rights to the
2019 Rugby World Cup, Spark
revealed it also had the rights
to the Women’s Rugby World
Cup 2021 as well as Rugby
World Cup Sevens and World
Rugby U20 championships.
Last year, it secured the rights
to English Premier League
football for three years.
The switch to Spark SportWill Spark fly?
It will be bad enough if the ABs don’t win the Rugby World Cup,
but even worse if we miss the spectacle. by entertainment editor FIONA RAE
Happily, TVNZ will
be screening 12
games free-to-air,
seven of them live,
including Friday’s
opening match
and the final,
which of course
will feature the All
Blacks crushing
their opponents.