SBS CEO Michael Ebeid has said SBS may need to reach out to Optus and offer a helping hand if the telco’s World Cup streaming continues to have issues.
The partly government-funded broadcaster, who have had the World Cup for decades, on-sold most of their games to Optus Sport.
SBS kept rights to 25 games, including all Socceroos matches, the tournament opener, half of the Round of 16 and quarter-finals, as well as every match from the semi-final stage onwards.
» See who to tip tonight in our World Cup expert tips column
But the matches exclusively available to Optus have ran into major problems so far, with mass network outage problems for customers, who are struggling to watch the biggest sporting event on the planet.
Speaking on Melbourne-based radio station SEN this morning, Ebeid said SBS may need to get involved with the streaming, potentially bringing games to their channels.
“I totally acknowledge for some people it hasn’t been the best experience,” Ebeid said.
“For all the games SBS has got, make sure you watch it on one of our platforms and if you are having any issues, go through the SBS app and hopefully that fixes the issue.
“I think if Optus continues to have problems, then we might have a conversation about how we can help them further in terms of putting some of those games on our channels.
“We are able and willing to do that.”
Ebeid went onto tell listeners the conversation may need to happen in the next 24 hours if Optus aren’t confident they have fixed the issues.
“It depends on Optus’ confidence levels in having fixed the problem,” he said.
“Maybe even 24 hours, I think they’ll need to take a good hard look at where they’re at with fixing the problem.”
It comes hot on the heels of another disastrous night for SBS, with many missing the entirety of the 10pm (AEST) game yesterday between Serbia and Costa Rica, with the Serbs taking a crucial 1-0 victory.
Optus CEO Allan Lew told the media yesterday Optus would have the problems rectified by last night – to no avail though, leaving customers frustrated.
“I apologise unreservedly to all Australians,” he told Fairfax Media on Sunday afternoon.
“We should have done better, we can do better and we will do better.”
“Australians can be assured that this has my personal attention, and the entire network’s team’s attention, and we will solve it. We will solve this problem by the end of this evening.
The World Cup continues this evening with Sweden versus South Korea at 10pm (AEST). Belgium will then take on Panama at 1am (AEST), before the day concludes at 4am (AEST) with Tunisia playing England. SBS will broadcast the English game.
Rocky
Guest
True. Stupidest idea I feel. That country has a thing for stupids. Spare us. Let him Remain there till they deport him.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
They’ve swallowed something that’s for sure.
Kris Swales
Expert
Simoc, time to send your sarcasm detector in for a check-up - it's definitely on the blink.
me too
Guest
very helpful. i'll just catch a plane to my nearest optus store 1500k away. i still have an optus modem from when they signed me over without permission and sent me it ayear ago. after they'd apologised they asked if i could return the modem to the nearest store. when i asked where that was and they replied with darwin i said do you know how far away that is? once told they said just keep it.
shirtpants
Roar Guru
SBS confirmed to play matches live for the next 48 hours. What an embarrassment for optus but glad they've somewhat swallowed their pride
Stevo
Roar Rookie
More than 1 office staffer I suggest. With a viewing audience of 2.1m for the Socceroos game and the twitter sphere lighting up after Optus-fail, Turnbull sees an opportunity to 'feel the pain' and be seen to sympathise with the mug punters out there in real-world land. There's votes in it muggins :)
Waz
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I know, I’m an RF Engineer by trade. But the service I bought off Foxtel comes with a crappy dish so when it rains ... not that Mr. Slater cares. But hey, I’m on NBN now and get a cracking 40Mb/s download ? And my boys got Optus over his mobile, casts it on to his tv, and he’s had no problem. Not even with the EPL stuff.
Simoc
Guest
Privatising SBS. That is the stupidest idea I've heard in a long while. There are umpteen channels putting out commercial garbage already. Do us all a favour and stay in India. Take up cricket.
Lionheart
Guest
As I've said above, my Fetch mini works fine. Be aware that you still need a feed to it, like WiFi or you can connect with a cable from your modem. It's easy to use so long as you don't think like Robbbie Slater who tweeted that you should be able to just turn the dial and select a channel. It's still streaming over the internet (not broadcasting over the airwaves) so unless you are watching live, at the time of the game or the show, it's on demand. If you turn on in the middle of the day you will most likely have to select from their menu of matches.
Lionheart
Guest
Waz - that's not a Foxtel issue, that's a satellite use, due to the frequency band used. It's just the way it is, the physics of it. And my Optus is working just fine.
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
They have already, https://offer.optus.com.au/fetch-mini-redemption/
Kris
Guest
He has 3 options 1. Fix it himself 2. Have SBS fix it, which is still sort of government owned. 3. Tell Optus to fix it. No brainer that one ")
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
I'm surprised Turnbull's intervened! Must be some young staffer of his that went "oi malcolm i can't watch the soccer, the damn optus stream is dropping out".
shirtpants
Roar Guru
The less Robbie Slater says the better
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Well it’s hit Turnbull’s office and he’s asking Optus to fix it. Good Lord, soccer getting attention in the corridors of power! As for Optus, they want to be seen as a big telco player and then this. Wouldn’t mind betting they tried to do the WC on the cheap and under dimensioned their servers to save a buck. Optus, be careful what you promise.
Waz
Roar Rookie
You’re not the only one but clearly there’s enough vocal and angry users that are dominating the conversation. Every time there’s heavy rains in Brisbane I lose Foxtel’s satellite signal, I wish Robbie bloody slater would tweet his disgust about that ?
T
Guest
You’re not the only one, i’ve Watched the majority of matches on Optus sports and have not had a single issue. It’s worked pretty much flawlessly for me so far
Kris Swales
Expert
For some overseas perspective, I'm currently in the hills of Dharamshala in India, where power can cut out at any time and usually does, using my mobile phone as a hotspot to watch the Sony Liv app on my laptop - watched Germany-Mexico last night with only one dropout. So this whole fiasco is a pretty sad indictment on Optus and what passes for broadband back home. Surely some think tank somewhere will suggest privatising SBS as the only way forward. Whatever the case, our PM's got a hide weighing in on it all.
Last Straw
Guest
Floptus - they need to think about how they will compensate people who paid good money in good faith for no service or extremely poor quality service not fit for purpose or as promised. ACCC needs to look at this.
Jim
Guest
I had one freeze last night in the Serbia - Costa Rica game, but its been fine for me otherwise as well.