SYDNEY, June 19 (Xinhua) -- An Australian public broadcaster has stepped in to air all of the Russia World Cup soccer matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, making a great save for Aussie football fans.
Although the tournament's group matches were supposed to be available to stream online through telecommunications giant Optus, a major technical glitch has left audiences unable to load the fixtures with constant playback issues and buffering problems plaguing the Optus Sport app and leaving subscribers who paid for the service infuriated.
As a result, an overnight deal was struck with the partially government-funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), to allow soccer fans to see the action for free.
"Following discussions with Optus Sport, we have agreed that SBS will air all 2018 FIFA World Cup games for the next 48 hours," SBS Televisions managing director Michael Ebeid said.
In the meantime Optus chief executive Allen Lew said they are working diligently to find a "robust solution," to the streaming issues.
"We have a dedicated team that have been working around the clock to attend to the technical issues," he said.
"Demand is no reason for us to make the mistakes that we did over the weekend so I apologise for that."
The move comes after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull got involved in the matter yesterday, using social media to tell soccer fans down under the problem would be solved.
"I have spoken with the Optus CEO, Allen Lew," Turnbull tweeted. "He assures me he is giving the World Cup streaming problems his personal attention and he believes it will be fixed this evening."
