The fallout from the failure of Optus Sport streaming service during the FIFA World Cup continues with terrestrial broadcaster SBS announcing it will broadcast all 2018 FIFA World Cup matches until end of Group Stage, and Optus Chief Executive Officer Allen Lew announcing that Optus will offer Optus Sport to all Australians for free until 31 August.
As a result of the initial outage, Mr Lew offered “… an unreserved apology to those customers that have been let down.”
“Since Monday, Optus has delivered the last six matches without issue. This has provided the confidence we needed to reassure the Australian public that we have addressed these issues and that our efforts have worked.
“We have also listened to feedback. As a gesture of goodwill for Australian fans, Optus will also simulcast the group matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in conjunction with SBS through the Group stages.”
Mr Lew said despite some issues, thousands of customers continue to sign up to Optus Sport and wanted the flexibility to watch content when and wherever they choose.
“This reaffirms that our strategy to deliver quality content to customers is the right one. I have conviction in our content strategy and Optus will not waiver from our pursuit of this strategy.”
Mr Lew said in the short term the company will work on restoring trust with those customers who have had a poor experience.
“We appreciate customers have given us another go.”
Michael Ebeid AM, CEO and Managing Director, SBS added, “The FIFA World Cup is the absolute pinnacle of football, a sport that Australians are deeply passionate about. SBS looks forward to continuing to simulcast the games, together with Optus over the next ten days.”
The outage of service even attracted the attention of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who made direct contact with Optus CEO, Allen Lew.
On his Twitter stream, the Aussie PM wrote, “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.”