ROMA – In these hours, the television and Internet referee (AgCom) evaluates the inefficiencies in watching football matches on the Dazn pay-TV. Social networks overflow with complaints from sports subscribers, and the Lega Calcio itself has asked for clarification. Wrong’AgCom, which is attentive to the issue, does not open any formal investigation or process to pay-TV. At least not yet.
However, the anger of consumers is mounting, demanding reimbursements in favor of sportsmen, disappointed above all by the quality of the signal. High tension between some Internet companies (Vodafone and above all Fastweb) who accuse Dazn of being not very transparent and collaborative, on a technical level.
Traffic lower than expected
AgCom has ascertained that the web traffic generated by the matches was lower than expected, between Saturday and Sunday. Many Italians are on vacation, perhaps abroad, and have not seen the races. Many sportsmen have chosen the collective vision in bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels with Sky subscribers.
The less impetuous traffic than forecasts meant that the National Network withstood the impact, without creating inconvenience to public structures, private companies or families who – during the games – preferred to go to Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney +, just to name a few. The tightness of the network has greatly reassured AgCom.
Football, all Serie A in the public places of Sky. Green light from the guarantor
by Aldo Fontanarosa
Speaking of football, AgCom’s orientation is to wait for the second day of Championship, which will be played between 28 and 29 August, to understand if the quality of the broadcast will improve. At the same time, AgCom asks Dazn for a detailed report on what went wrong between last Saturday and Sunday, during the first day.
In particular, AgCom wants to understand what happened on Saturday when many sportsmen lost their vision of Inter-Genoa; whether the inefficiencies (such as interruptions, flickers and delays) have affected a significant share of customers; if the app of dazn – downloadable on mobile phones, tablets and smart TVs – provided the desired performance; if the network of servers that Dazn created to better distribute traffic (it’s called Dazn Edge) did the job without unexpected events.
In a meeting at AgCom, which pay-TV calls “serene and constructive”, Dazn admitted that on Saturday one of the two mega Internet traffic distribution servers gave way for a few minutes. The tens of thousands of subscribers they saw Inter-Genoa thanks to that server they suffered an interruption in the vision. Then they were hooked to the second server and would resume viewing without any problems.
Protesta via social
Also Dazn argues that sports victims of disservices would be one minority. On this point, during the meeting in AgCom, the companies that sell Internet subscriptions were skeptical and critical. All these companies – on the eve of the Championship – commissioned specialized agencies to monitor social networks to understand what the mood of the Italians would have been. And certainly the complaints of sportsmen have exceeded the alert level.
Dazn also ensured that its new server network (Dazn Edge, a parachute facility that is supposed to distribute Internet traffic correctly) worked fine.
On this point, Vodafone and above all made themselves heard Fastweb, who complain about the inadequate functioning of this parachute structure (Dazn Edge). The two companies also asked that Dazn collaborate much more with them by sharing all the technical information necessary to guarantee a good service to end users.
Then there is the crux of the quality of the signal, therefore of the images. Dazn is bent on confirming one limited quality – “degraded” according to critics – for smartphones and tablets also for the second day of Serie A, when many people will still be on vacation, therefore the challenges from mobile support will follow. The solution it was suggested to Dazn by some mobile phone companies, in previous meetings.
Dazn, on social media irony and controversy for Serie A that looks bad
“High prices, poor service”
In this context, Federconsumatori, among the main associations, makes itself felt to protect users: “Once again – he writes – citizens are faced with a service which, despite the substantial increase in subscription costs, is proving to be inadequate”.
“Furthermore, the platform has not published any message of apology on its website nor has it mentioned possible refreshments, thus demonstrating a total lack of interest in customer needs and the quality of the service provided”.
“The lack of attention of the company towards users – he adds Federconsumatori – this is nothing new: in recent weeks we have sent a report to AgCom for the real inaction of the self-styled customer service, which in reality is nothing more than a robot capable of providing only basic answers without the customers ever coming contacted for the real resolution of your problem “.
The association Codacons he goes so far as to ask that Dazn pass his hand: “One of the two: either the pay-TV manages to restore adequate service standards, compensating the users involved, or it must give up the idea of broadcasting the games – given the obvious inadequacy of his performances – and pass on his rights to others “.
Question from Leu
“#DAZN, if a good morning starts in the morning … If money and interests prevail over sport and passion, it is right that the fans are reimbursed and turn everything off”. The leader of the League writes it on Twitter, Matteo Salvini.
The deputy also shows up from the palaces of politics Luca Pastorino, of Leu. “The inefficiencies of Dazn on the first day of football are very serious. For this reason, I will present a question to the Chamber to ask for government intervention.”
“Millions of people have to deal with the need to have a special one decoder to watch the Serie A championship matches. As if that were not enough, those who do not have the fiber for the connection, are likely to attend matches that go intermittently, at best, given that in some cases there have been prolonged blocks. User reports do not require further comments “.
“Moreover – adds Pastorino – this season began, rightly, with the limitation of the capacity of the stadiums due to the pandemic of Covid. Inevitably, the television offer for football becomes even more important. Subscribers must be able to take advantage of a service worthy of the costs and importance of the championship. Politics cannot dismiss the affair as a secondary issue. For this reason a government response is needed “.
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