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Seven criticism grows as Olympics app struggles

From ad breaks to Sunrise, wrong flags to technical problems for the Olympics app, Seven comes under fire.

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Social media criticism of Seven’s Olympics coverage has broadened, made problematic by technical errors hampering its Seven Olympics app.

News Corp notes Seven has copped angry comments about commentators, ad breaks, sets and for screening Sunrise (despite its Rio base and Live medal crosses).

But one of the more legitimate complaints surrounds the Seven Olympics app, which failed for many users on Saturday and Sunday with no streaming available for long periods of time.

A Seven spokesperson said, “The unprecedented demand for live sports streaming from Rio Olympics has had a massive impact on streaming architecture.

“We apologise for inconvenience that this is causing and we are doing our best to restore streams soon.

“Users may have experienced issues accessing the app and live streams due to the demand. Our service provider in Rio delivering the Olympics on 7 app is working to resolve this and the impact from the heavy demand.

Fairfax notes some customers complained of commentary being absent during the swimming finals and a number of fans said they had resorted to streaming international broadcasters’ coverage via a VPN.

The app costs $19.95 for the duration of the Games.

“Our streaming partners – Olympic Broadcasting Services in Rio and Akamai – have assured us they are doing everything they can to avoid a repeat of any problems caused by the unparalleled audiences coming into digital platforms today,” a Seven spokesperson said yesterday.

Yesterday Seven claimed 4.1m Olympic online streams, including preliminary rounds and 2.22m social video views.

Meanwhile Seven also apologised for using Chile’s flag, instead of China’s, in a projected medal tally graphic. Fairfax notes an online petition calling for an apology had gathered more than 8000 signatures by Monday.

“It was a mistake – and to the people who have been offended by it, we apologise unreservedly to them,” a Seven spokesperson said.

Last year Seven used the Netherlands flag instead of the French flag during coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks.

45 Responses

  1. I was a little disappointed with the equestrian coverage last night – not because of Ch 7 but the commentators. While they both seemed nice people, there was a huge assumption that their audience were fully conversant on equestrian competition, instead of realising that they were talking to ignoramuses. There was almost no explanation of what the course was about, how the scoring worked, why a particular contestant had lost points, why some riders went over some of the jumps and not others etc. Instead we got gentle description of how lovely the horse was or the past achievements of the rider. It was a pity, and a lost opportunity for them to really promote their sport.

    1. Agree. With a surname like Roycroft you would assume she would be excellent. Perhaps that is the problem, she thinks us ordinary people know as much as she knows.

  2. Geeze …as David Knox noted in one story…it is a whole new ball game this time….never been done like this before…so comparing what other networks did in the past…is like comparing apples and eggs….
    It is an enormous undertaking….and there are bound to be some issues…no one can expect perfection all the time….
    I have managed to sort my issues…note, I said my issues…no good blaming the messenger…I feel they are doing a really good job…it is gigantic…they are trying to cover as much as is possible.

    1. How can that be you had one channel to view everything on I rememebr we were bombarded with adds the commentary left a lot to be desired we had to put up with Karl an Lisa all the time . At least with seven you get three channels of live coverage that’s just fantastic choice so what if it’s not in HD big deal and an app dedicated to the Olympics coverage far more choice than ever before no way nine did it better they only had one channel showing it that alone made it a hopeless coverage .

  4. I have been watching the boomers on the app and they don’t even have the Australian commentary. Also their is a delay between what the vision was showing and what the commentator was saying. Also why can’t they have used freeview plus so that you could have watched the extra events on the tv. . Not everyone is technically minded to say airplay from the tablet /pc to tv. Maybe Foxtel would have been a better bet.

    1. Hear, Hear. How do you know when you’ve landed in Australia? When the engines stop but the whining is still going. “…instead of going to live sport after sunrise they went to a replay of something that happened 5 hours ago”. Fine by me. I wasn’t up at 4am to see it. Doing well Seven.

  6. Sunday was the day when ch7 …”on any device” failed for me, otherwise I have dipped in and out and from what I have seen the coverage has been fine with some decent well informed commentary. It has made me never want to go to Rio though…..the place seems a right dump away from the Olympic venues. The largest favella (a major no go zone according to the cycling commentary) in the southern hemisphere is a lousy selling point.

    1. Ugh, I hate media sensationalism. The favelas are actually safer and friendlier places than the crowded streets in Rio. Yes, I’ve been to Rio three years ago. Don’t listen to the media.

  7. I enjoyed five hours straight on the app last night on my iPad, and only it only dropped out twice. I had 7 Two showing on tv as well, with two tabs of live scoring on my laptop. Delighted to see equestrian events getting good coverage….and for the Aussies to be in gold medal positions in both the team and individual events.

  8. I can’t get the app at all, apparently my device is not compatible. No problems though, I’m enjoying the choice of events on three different channels.

    A little strange this morning, though, showing the 5v6 and 3v4 Rugby Sevens finals on 7mate, then switching to 7two for the Aussies winning Gold medal match. I was recording it for kids to watch later, and nearly missed the channel change.

  9. most of the time they have the same event on 2 channels at the same time. this morning instead of going to live sport after sunrise they went to a replay of something that happened 5 hours ago. peopl who say the coverage is great are blind

    1. I’ve watched about 40 hours coverage over 3 days and there’s been duplications for about 90 mins (women’s football the first day and women’s rugby 7’s today). Keep complaining though, its fun!

      1. Not sure what coverage you have been watching for “40 hours”.
        The Main channel is a joke unless you like swimming.
        Last night they had Live equestrian on 7two. This was great and although the commentator gushing on how great the footage that 7 was providing was a bit weird (considering 7 have nothing to do with the actual recording)… they then had a splash screen for the beach volleyball that was on “right now” with “live footage” on one of the other channels. I switched over and the match had already finished. I then switched to the main channel to check other what was going on and they were replaying the equestrian which was still live on 7two.
        Seems like no one in control really knows what they want to show.

        1. Hi JM, I’ve enjoyed various sports so far over the 3 channels Seven are using for their free to air coverage. Yes, swimming is heavily promoted. There have been other events on the last two days when the swimming is on (tennis, football, beach volleyball are all examples). Its a free coverage being put on by a commercial Network, so of course ads are to be expected.

          1. Hi glennc, Never complained about the ads at all. Its a commercial network… to be expected.
            I guess its just hard to go from 9 Channels in HD (i think it was in London) down to 3 Channels, (2 in SD, 1 in HD) and a generic app that isnt even tailored for Australians. Then on top of that the coverage is being produced on a tiny budget. Everything is hosted from Sydney, there appears to be almost no one actually on the ground in Rio.
            I have been watching the BBC and apparently they have money problems. You wouldnt know it. Their coverage s**ts on ours.
            Maybe instead of 7 spending all their money on Rights for sports & the olympics they should have actually saved some money for the broadcast, or On-Sold the rights to Foxtel or Optus and everyone would be happy. And before you say “but thats not free”.. Neither is what channel 7 is offering $19.95 Premium access.
            And just get the…

    2. “Most of the time they have the same event on 2 channels at the same time”? I watched a great deal of Olympics overnight and this morning and saw 3 events on 3 different channels at the same time. The only time I saw the same event duplicated on 2 channels was the women’s Rugby 7s final during Sunrise. The TV coverage has been excellent in my opinion.

    3. I have watched all night….’til dawn…the past 2 nights…and different things on each channel…ad comes on I flick to another channel…(unless it is an ad I like…*G*)….and they keep putting up little boxes to let you know what is on all the channels….
      Even silly old me..who got stumped the 1st night….has figured it out….and I a not remotely tech savvy….

  10. My beef is with ponying up $20 for the privilege of ‘premium’ only to then be served pre-roll ads whenever I make a stream selection. If I’m trying to switch between simultaneous events I miss a big chunk of the action.

  11. To blame the Olympic Broadcast Sevice or the alakai servers is rubbish all of the Olympic broadcast partners are receiving the video streams from the same place, the worldwide akamai proxy network with huge bandwidth capacity. It’s just the rubbish Seven access authentication servers that haven’t been properly tested and are causing the problems. In other words it’s not the raw feed that’s the issue its the wrapper seven is putting around it. I have used both the BBC sports app and the CBC app and they are both working fine particularly the BBC which is excellent HD, Airplay, Free and no ads.
    Seven is to blame and their FTA live coverage is also awful, I am so glad that I have access to alternatives.

  12. Couldn’t care less about the “app” thing. No 7HD in regional areas is nothing to do with 7. Call Prime. What I do care about is the “Market Update” masquerading as a 60-90 secs. segment tarted up as a sports report, when it is a William Hill betting odds ‘commercial’ on upcoming events, airing at 6:45pm when children are waiting for the actual sports segment.

  13. My main problem with the coverage is the commentators talking while the medal ceremonies are going on. I would like to get some of the atmosphere and hear what is being said as they introduce the athletes and officials.

  14. I tried the app on 5 devices and their desktop site, took them 5 days to get it working but i finally got to use it last night. I dont understand 7 they had 4 years to build an app and get it working but it looks like they started building it a month ago and its still not finished, most the app is sill not available. Also whats with 7 taking 7hd away from regional viewers

  15. Is the app just a 7 branded version of the off the shelf streaming product the OBS has been touting as part of its move towards digital? If so then it seems legitimate for 7 to be shifting the blame to OBS and Akamai. And if OBS and Akamai can’t do it right, it’s unlikely anyone could have.

    1. But Seven shouldn’t have emphasised its investment in the app / Olympics digital coverage (leading everyone to believe it was Seven’s IP) when really a third party was responsible. So they’ve got themselves to blame.

      And in terms of online views, how on earth could Seven get to millions of streams if the app/website were down. I suspect they’re counting on starts which effectively means millions of ad views.

        1. Thanks David (you sure you’re on hiatus!) but it seems they’re still claiming ~2m online views (ex Social) and seven.com.au/olympics/ is the same platform as the app?

  16. I have had no streaming dramas with app but there has been plenty of events with no commentary. In terms of the TVcoverage think seven is going ok and using the multis well. And of course they are going to replay medal winners over and over – don’t understand point of sunrise being on (perhaps looking for a couple of weeks wins over today) but more so kochie and Nat back in Sydney this morning after being in rio last week and interviews done from Sydney studio particularly with Hamish on the nightly wrap have been ordinary

  17. It is annoying about the Olympic Apps. being unreliable, but I suppose as this is a first time for this type of streaming there will be teething problems which I think is to be expected and hopefully once its sorted everything will be great and for the next Olympics there should not be any problems.

  18. Whatever you do or don’t do, you’re going to get criticised for Olympics coverage. No excuse for the failed streaming app however. They are blaming Olympic Broadcasting Services when it’s Seven / Telstra’s App and servers? If they launched the app more than a couple days out, maybe many of these problems could have been foreseen and fixed.

  19. Yes the 7 website crashed my PC ugh.. Coverage across the channels of 7 has been alright imo, ads getting flogged as expected and geez that music quiz show looks really awful ?

  20. I wonder if the complainers realise what an enormously massive undertaking covering the Olympics on this scale is?
    There are bound to be hiccups, they are only human.
    Let’s cut the Seven folk a little slack shall we?
    My wife and I are enjoying having the pick of three channels even if 7mate is the only one in HD.

  21. so they would rather put a gossip show that is back in sydney on instead of live sport and when it finishes they just show another replay. it’s not surprising as they butcher every sporting event they broadcast. the commentators in the swimming are hopless

  23. I downloaded the app and can only just get it to open it doesn’t do anything else. Tried the plus7 app and that’s ok, but about 20 mins in I find it always crashes.

  24. I know it’s common now for people to whinge about almost everything but I think seven are doing a good job. I’ve tried streaming a few times now and it’s worked well every time. The coverage on TV has been good and when Sunrise is on you can change over to the other 2 channels to watch live sport. And I haven’t paid a cent. No complaints here!

  25. I love sevens coverage to have all three seven channels broadcasting live different events is a sports viewers dream..there is more choice than ever for viewers .well done seven so far very happy viewer.some people will never be happy.these critics must be the same critics that said Rio would be a disaster as an olympic city.i reckon Rio set up is better than London.

      1. I am thoroughly enjoying the Zumbo Olympics on Seven. For every 5 minutes of coverage you get 5 Zumbo ads. This is worse than Seven’s Australian Open coverage. When the tennis is on you get 5 minutes tennis and only four My Kitchen Rules ads.

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