Getting rid of TVNZ+

Agree on the highlights options being handy. Have managed to watch all but the Scotland game so far - was out yesterday afternoon and didn't have time later as well as the Australia one.  The 24 minute "condensed match" was a nice option.

My memory may be failing me now, but IIRC this year's pass is cheaper than the price was in 2018?  
I remember paying more than $45 but can't recall exactly how much.

loving the coverage so far, even ok with the hydration/ad breaks  - the biggest gripe I have is the half time "highlights package" where every moment they want to show is replayed from every camera angle (how many times can I be shown a missed shot?)

The lack of replays is incredibly frustrating during games.

They are too busy spotting 'celebs' in the crowd

Oh god. The amount of times it showed that Saudi keeper's first half save on repeat.

Etched in to my brain now.

First hiccup with TVNZ this morning. Was watching the England game about 5 minutes behind live in the 2nd half due to sorting something out at half time. Tried to fast forward a stoppage and it skipped it back to the last moment I started from so had to skip forward to where I was (luckily remembered the minute). Then again tried to skip the hydration break forward to pretty much catch up to live and it skipped back again but I didn't notice. The Bellingham goal was scored and I celebrated and laughed and screamed out to myself "it's exactly the same goal again hahahaha!" Then looked at the time and score and realised it actually was the same goal.

I would say this is not the WC related hiccup, but a general TVNZ app issue. 
Quality of their software is relatively poor for this day and age.

Sky Sports $660 per year alone. If TVNZ did football for $250 per year, I'd ditch Sky Sports in a heart beat. Happy with the picture quality on my phone and my TV. Well done TVNZ. 

Did anyone else cut to ads at 41m in the Spain Uruguay match? Ads during the  spainish goal! Shambles. 

Yup. Flicked over to see the goal, caught some ads (thankfully killed mid-ad eventually). 

This particular match has been amateur hour from TVNZ, hopefully get it all out of their system before the NZ game

The feed also flicked over to the other game at one point before going to ads and missing the goal.  I complained on the TVNZ Facebook page along with many others. The reply was basically "sorry, watch the replay."

The stream cut to the Cape Verde and Saudi match was also annoying.

The support AI app they have in place is also pretty bad. Also had the stock standard AI response and they apologise for the inconvenience, which is nice of them. 

I complained on their online form, got this response

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Was annoyed at the passive language of the response so flicked off a few follow up questions. 

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Got a quick response saying it had been escalated. 

For what it's worth -

All these broadcasters are using international feeds. In order to time things like adverts, the video stream itself has messages encoded within it which tells downstream broadcasters when to switch to adverts, among other things.

Mistakes with this are usually why we get dumb behavior, like cutting to ad breaks at the wrong time.

So yeah, while it is TVNZ's fault, it's kinda also not their fault.

Just wondering for people smarter than I am. Is there some places in the world getting the same feed as us but not getting ad breaks at all/when we get them? Only because I notice how it returns from a ad break and the commentators usually still talking mid conversation? Thank you

I get what you are saying, but also doesn't excuse TVNZ. And from the outset I will say that this does feel a bit 'first world problem-y'. However. They said ads only pre game and half time, which hasn't happened. They knew the app had certain bugs (e.g. locked portrait mode in iOS) but didn't communicate it prior to the customer ponying up the 45 beans, they probably didn't realise but should have realised the exact content they were going to serve - the limp boring commentators that can't be changed/muted with the endless inane 'facts and stats',  with a love affair for talking about other matches instead of the one going on in front of them, a stronger focus on crowd work where gameplay should have been prioritised. The really bad AI Zendesk support system that hasn't worked once for me yet (not to mention the cut and paste passive AI social media responses). It is just all a little bit...meh. Cheap. Underwhelming. And there is no other alternative for New Zealanders but this...slop, other than breaking the law by going to dodgy websites. So TVNZ had to get this right. 

CGA is pretty clear on digital services. I don't believe that this service has been at an acceptable quality (my dislike of the commentators excluded), the product is not how it was described prior to me buying it (no mention of hydration breaks at all, let alone advertising within the hydration breaks, in the terms of service that I read, and the TVNZ+ app currently being sub-par and buggy but they decided to ship it anyway), the fact that they switched to a completely different game, and that they couldn't keep the stream up during a key moment in the match to me shows that the service has not been maintained with reasonable care and skill. Same with their a poor support platform that emphasises AI over problem solving customer's issues. 

They don't get to hide behind the fact that they have bought this package from another source. They need to be better at this. And yes FIFA, the source, needs to be better too.

Gosh I wrote too many words on this. 

I like how they say they 'experienced a disruption', and then played ads.

If it's a true disruption occurs, pop an image up saying 'we're having technical difficulties and the feed will be up as as soon as possible.'

One thing I’d like for the knockout games is if the duration of the streams could be somehow hidden when watching on demand. It can be a spoiler as to whether it goes to extra time/penalties. For the Canada vs South Africa game this morning I couldn't quite watch the whole 90 minutes before getting to work so I watched the last 10-15 mins of normal time from where I was up to at lunch time,  but the amount of time left on the stream made it obvious there was going to be a late winning goal and no extra time (I couldn't avoid seeing the time as needed to skip forward to where I had got to live). Similarly, if there had been an hour left on the stream that’s a pretty good indication it went the distance. 

 

If the time can’t be hidden then maybe all replay streams could be say 3 or 4 hours long to avoid this spoiler (ie, with a “thank you for watching” screen at the end of coverage. I know ideally you need to watch live if you don't want spoilers, but many games are taking place during the NZ day time when work etc happens so it’s not possible to watch live for all games. I’ve sent TVNZ this feedback so will see if they respond.  

 

Nothing came from the above. After a week they replied to say they would pass it onto the technical team but didn't hear anything further. 

Having a similar experience, I requested a refund. The AI bot declined. A week later and without me knowing they “re-escalated” my complaint and said they have decided to refund my purchase.

What has been so frustrating with this service is when you watch a delayed game, not knowing the result.

So you fast forward through the first 20 minutes of the stream knowing it will be anthems etc and try to do the same at half time. But probably because of the ads missed or that they want to show you the whole thing turns into a cluster fuck and it takes you to the end of the stream.

So, so frustrating.

this was always going to be the issue given TVNZ lack of live sport experience, they has suimilar issues with the cricket.

I haven't had this when watching fully on demand (ie, starting sometime later after the stream has ended) but had this a couple of times last week when I started delayed while the match was still ongoing (didn't want to get up early enough for live). When getting to half time and fast forwarding, it skipped straight to the end as the stream had ended by then. It went to the "thanks for watching" screen so didn't reveal the result, but it was a spoiler that it didn't go to extra time - so I knew late winners must be coming in Spain vs Belgium and Argentina vs Egypt after it got to 2-2 for instance. 

It might be depend what device you are using the app on. I haven't had it happen on my phone (android) or Sky Pod (essentially a chromecast type device), but the times it did happen was on a smart TV app - I was on holiday last week staying in a couple of Air BnBs so just used the app on the provided Smart TV. 

Yep it was the app on the telly 

I've also had the TV app do it to me.

Plus between videos I have to quit out of the WC portal back to the normal TVNZ screen then go back in for the app to keep being functional. Utterly ridiculous.

Wonder if the problem is that im not watching the ads they run at the end of each video.

Overall I think they did a pretty good job. Some things to work on but for $45 I was happy with the experience.

I hope they don't get rid of the content immediately though. Wouldn't mind sifting through some highlights to tide over the post World Cup blues.

Believe today is your last day to view, so better get cracking!,

Yer I was happy with it too. In saying that, when at home I tended to watch bbc for ad free or itv for great pundits however at work or on the go tvnz was good.

I do agree with the comment about making all games 3 hours so you don’t know if it goes to extra time, that would be a good plan.

I also have post World Cup blues that was the best one I’ve seen due to NZ, kick off times and dare I say it the pageantry of US sport. If only Hulk Hogan was still alive he woulda done a better job than Tom Cruise. 😀. I’m still trying to work out what that was… 

IIRC, the World Cup pass expires on August 20th so plenty of time left.

Check out the BBC montage, all class with a great soundtrack.

https://x.com/footballtweet/status/2079095963906625581?s=61

https://x.com/footballtweet/status/2079095963906625581?s=61

nope.

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however all the replays and highlights are still available.

I also thought access would end on 20 July. But just seen (on laptop) when look at passes (under World Cup) says "Tournament ends 20 July, replays available until 20 August 2026" Anyways so yes can watch until 20 August  

That's just the date of the World Cup. But I had to double check and yeah the replays are available until 20 August.

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Does anyone know if it's possible to download the NZ games from somewhere as I'd like to have a copy. I have a screen recorder but it blacks out so will only record audio with a black screen.  

The 'footballhighlights' subreddit on Reddit is probably the best bet. Hope that's ok to mention here. 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

meanwhile after huge success of 2026 WC, TVNZ are https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/21/tvnz-secures-rights-to-2030-fifa-world-cup/ have the rights to the next one.  I really hope the app works on my tv by then.

I have had no issues whatsoever, and think they've done a great job. I use an Apple TV, the only thing is that it would be nice to see it in 4K. I have an IPTV sub and FOX and the BBC broadcast their games in 4K, and was noticeably different to TVNZ.