SINGAPORE: Preliminary investigations by StarHub indicated that its network was “not tuned to react to the sudden surge of concurrent users”, after a host of issues reported by customers over the telco’s broadcasts of the football Premier League season’s opening weekend.
Angry football fans had taken to social media since Saturday (Aug 6) to vent their frustrations, noting issues such as broadcast lags, freezes on their screens and poor video and audio quality.
Some users also said they were unable to log on to the StarHub TV+ app.
In response to CNA’s queries on Monday, StarHub said the “sudden surge of concurrent users” had triggered “error messages” on some customers’ devices and “affected broadcast quality” for them.
StarHub did not address the issue of compensation for affected users, when asked by CNA.
They confirmed that the the issues were isolated to the OTT, or over-the-top, streaming of the Premier League; and that their Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) service remained “robust throughout”.
“There was smooth broadcast at our ‘live’ community screening at Our Tampines Hub, which was delivered via IPTV,” said StarHub.
The company added that there were fewer reports pertaining to the OTT streaming of Premier League matches on Sunday.
It said it was “heartened that many of the teething issues encountered by customers” on Aug 6 were resolved for Sunday’s games.
“However, we will continue to work hard to address technical issues faced by some customers and improve the viewing experience,” said StarHub.
