Optus Sport will provide a full refund to customers who purchased the streaming service for the FIFA World Cup following the heavily criticised coverage.
Optus Sport handed over all World Cup group matches to SBS, on Wednesday, after the telco was unable to ensure it could fix the issues that have plagued its coverage so far.
The announcement came after complaints from paid viewers who have been forced to endure glitches, buffering issues and interrupted games since the tournament began.
The streaming service cost Australian viewers $15 (per month) – an amount that will be fully returned to those who purchased the service.
Optus addressed their criticised coverage and offered Optus Sport to all Australians for free until August 31 (pictured)
Optus agreed in ‘goodwill’ to broadcast the rest of the group stage in conjunction with SBS
Viewers who had paid Optus to watch the World Cup were forced to endure glitches, buffering issues and having games interrupted with black screens reading ‘playback error
Customers who purchased the streaming service will be directly transferred their refunds before the conclusion of the World Cup on July 16, 9news reported.
‘Optus customers who have already purchased the Optus Sport app will be refunded via the payment mode that the purchase was made,’ an Optus spokesperson said.
The refunds will be automatic and customers will not need to contact Optus.
‘We anticipate refunds will be processed within the next two weeks. Refunds will be processed automatically and customers do not need to contact us,’ the spokesperson said.
Optus chief executive Allen Lew announced on Wednesday that Optus Sport will be free for all Australians until August 31.
‘We are confident in our capabilities and are ready to back our product. We want Australians to be able to experience the content we have on offer,’ Lew said.
The content will also allow Australian viewers to watch a few weeks of the 2018-19 English Premier League for free – a redeemable move for the telco.
The new agreement means SBS and Optus will broadcast all World Cup games until June 29.
Football fans started using the hashtag ‘floptus’ to criticise the telco’s coverage of the World Cup
SBS have free-to-air broadcast rights for the World Cup Final, all semi-finals and third-place final.
It has not yet been decided who will stream Round 16 and Quarter Finals.
Earlier in the week, on Sunday, Lew apologised ‘unreservedly to all Australians’ on Sunday, but there were further issues later that night.
‘There’s no doubt this has adversely affected the Optus brand … everybody is very disappointed, to put it mildly,’ an apologetic Mr Lew said.
Optus bought the rights to broadcast the tournament for a reported $8million.
Optus chief executive Allen Lew (pictured) apologised ‘unreservedly to all Australians’ on Sunday