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StarHub says conversation with sponsors underway and EPL disruption isolated to OTT

StarHub says conversation with sponsors underway and EPL disruption isolated to OTT

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StarHub found itself in an uncomfortable position on Saturday as football fans took to its social media page to report issues watching the Premier League broadcast on the season's opening weekend. Complaints ranged from poor service as screens froze, audio and video quality saw compromises and broadcasts lagged. Some also complained about the inability to log on to the StarHub TV+ app. Many called for refunds for their subscriptions.

On its social media, StarHub apologised to its Premier+ customers for the disruptive Premier League viewing experience on TV+. “We understand the frustration felt by our customers, and acknowledge that we have fallen short of their expectations. Our customers deserve better from us - we assure them that we are taking this matter seriously and will spare no effort to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We thank all our customers for their valuable feedback,” said the company.

In a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, StarHub said preliminary investigations indicate that the network was not tuned to react to the sudden surge of concurrent users. This triggered error messages on some of its customers’ devices and affected broadcast quality for them. StarHub also said that these issues were isolated to the OTT streaming of Premier League, and as of yesterday, there were fewer reports pertaining to the OTT streaming of Premier League. "Our IPTV service remained robust throughout and there was smooth broadcast at our “live” community screening at Our Tampines Hub, which was delivered via IPTV," the provider added.

"We are heartened that many of the teething issues encountered by customers on 6 August were resolved for yesterday’s games. However, we will continue to work hard to address technical issues faced by some customers and improve the viewing experience," said StarHub.

According to social listening tool Meltwater, there were a total of 1.18k mentions on the incident and 35% of it was negative.

Many in the Reddit community also shared that they felt “shortchanged” by StarHub and streaming rights should go back to their competitors. Others mentioned that free streaming sites performed better.

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Previously, StarHub competitor Singtel held the broadcast rights to English Premier League in Singapore for 12 years. Since StarHub nabbed the account, the company brought on board six sponsors for its broadcast. These include presenting broadcast sponsor Income; Gold broadcast sponsors Ogawa, Carlsberg, IG (Asia) and Lazada, as well as broadcast sponsor McDonald's. Income will be supporting StarHub's broadcast of Premier League for the next three seasons, while the remaining sponsors have inked up to two-year deals.

StarHub said it will also be reaching out to our Premier League broadcast sponsors individually to keep them apprised of the situation. "Our customers and sponsors are important to us, and we thank them for their patience and understanding," said the telco. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to StarHub to find out how sponsors will be compensated.

StarHub had earlier said that by leveraging its technology, sponsors will enjoy a new method of brand exposure that is "more dynamic, eye-catching, and impactful than traditional TV banner advertisements". These include Centre Circle, whereby the sponsors' brand is superimposed onto the centre circle of the football field at kick-offs, and Clock Drop Down Logo, where the sponsors’ logo appears on the underside of the on-screen scoreboard. 

Other sponsorship entitlements include TV advertising spots during Premier League broadcasts, OOH branding at StarHub Shops and Premier League community viewing parties, and digital banners on StarHub’s website and app. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t the brand's first hiccup with the Premier League situation. Last month, the brand apologised to consumers for the long waiting time as a result of the overwhelming reception to the launch of its EPL subscription package.

StarHub will offer the Premier League competition for six seasons, having entered into an exclusive agreement with The Premier League earlier this year. Between 9 to 19 June, subscribers will only have to pay SG$19.99 for Premier+ with StarHub mobile postpaid, broadband or TV+ plan that is more than SG$15 monthly. Meanwhile, the early bird cost of the Premier+ subscription only is SG$34.99. The usual price for both is SG$24.99 and SG$39.99 respectively. Despite the attractive pricing, several netizens also faced issues on the inability to modify their contract on the StarHub app while some said they are unable to sign up despite being an existing mobile and broadband user.

Related articles:
IMDA approves StarHub's proposal to acquire MyRepublic Broadband
StarHub goes even greener with a new look for logo

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