NZ Tech Podcast: Rugby streaming rights, crypto safety, future telecoms

Hear me on the NZ Tech Podcast episode 725 talking with host Paul Spain.

We start by discussing the competition Sky TV faces from UK-based DAZN which may be about to launch an eleventh hour bid for the broadcast rights to All Blacks Rugby games. If DAZN succeeds, it’s likely the games will only be available as digital streams. This will take us back to the point where Rugby fans will need a decent broadband connection.

I had a story about the goings-on at Sky TV in Friday’s Download Weekly newsletter.

Chinese app risk

You can hear my thoughts on the news that New Zealand's Parliament recently banned Chinese apps DeepSeek, WeChat, Red Note and CapCut from devices that can access the parliamentary network due to cybersecurity concerns.

We discuss how Google’s Gemini AI managed to breach New Zealand court imposed name suppression orders on a recent high profile case and a nasty incident involving a cryptocurrency password.

A few words about Microsoft’s deal with Spark (also briefly covered in the Friday newsletter) was the entry point to a wider discussion about the state of the local telecommunications market in the wake of Spark’s poor half year result and a flat result from Chorus (there will be more analysis of this in this Friday’s newsletter.)

How far can direct to satellite go?

Paul asked me about the likelihood of terrestrial mobile networks being eventually replaces by direct to satellite services. It’s a reasonable assumption that the technology will soon advance to a point where this becomes possible.

As I say in the podcast discussion there is much more to the question that the simple matter of whether satellites can deliver the necessary bandwidth to make this happen. Among other things it would need changes to the way we use spectrum and there are geopolitical considerations.

You can find the episode online at the NZ Tech Podcast site or through your favourite podcast source. Alternatively, use the direct link here: