Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch

In 1995 we were all witnessing Nelson Mandela holding the Rugby World Cup aloft.

In 2007 we were 'robbed” by the ref and France kicked us where it hurt, yet again, in another failed quest for the Crown jewels.

In 2011 it was all about Beaver's right foot, and Richie's broken one, as we hoisted the gold cup aloft for the first time in ages and ages and ages.

Press play and so far 2019 is all about periods of sub-standard picture quality and intermittent drop-outs.

Yes digital television has forced its way into our homes, whether we like it or not.

For those of you who have not been exposed to the vagaries of digital sports coverage, it's about time you joined the revolution and suffered too. By revolution, I mean never-ending circles.

This is not so much a sport story as a sad indictment of how fragmented the world of entertainment has become.

The gateway app

In my case, the slow slide into this bottomless pit started, innocently enough, with Spotify a few years ago.

For just 12 bucks a month [now 23 bucks a month] I could get most of the music I wanted and spread the joy to the rest of the family.

And then the last video store in my town closed, so like everyone else I turned to the internet for comfort.

I mean, who wants to watch Shawshank Redemption every week on TV?

I signed up for Netflix and bought the family package while I was at it. Eighteen bucks a month [now 24 bucks] – highest possible quality.

And I bought a great big 4k TV - not a smart one though because I don't like being watched by my TV. Plus a Google Chromecast because I've got a dumb TV.

Sorted!

Netflix was great but after binge watching Vikings, three seasons of Stranger Things and other content I won't admit to, it was into the old movies and obscure stuff.

I have an almost obsessive ability to watch bad movies to the bitter end but my ‘started watching' list is a graveyard of full of hundreds of corpses.

Bring on TVNZ On Demand and Three Now. Goodbye appointment viewing – hello TV, Chromecast, laptop, mobile device, high speed internet, passwords and user names.

By the way, if someone suggests you get more fibre they are not talking about Weetbix.

Back to buying popcorn

It is incredibly difficult these days to actually rent the latest movies. You need to sign up to 12 different services. You need to show commitment to the corporation, or become a criminal.

Yes, desperate, ordinary people are turning to a life of crime and abandoning their morals by watching badly pirated, illegal downloads of Breaking Bad, sometimes with Spanish voice overs. Damn you Kodi box!

Technology has advanced so much that you now have to literally go to the box office at the cinema to watch box office hits.

You cannot just rent the movie you want.

Bottomless pit

This brings me to sport because once I had the gear, there was really no point in owning Sky's satellite service. Satellites are sooo
old school.

The extra 100 bucks a month was too much, when all I need is sport and digital Sky Sport was just 55 bucks a month.

Ka Ching!

Then Spark won the rights to the Rugby World Cup. In a way, this was good because Sky Sport had a sudden renewed interest in being reasonable, dropped the price of its digital service to 38 bucks and redesigned the platform.

Now, if you know where to look, you can watch a delayed game without seeing the live score. It takes great skill to use a laptop with your eyes closed while yelling 'da, da, da, da, da!”

I figured all the big cup games were live or only an hour delayed so, I didn't need to buy a pass.

Until Saturday rolled around and then I couldn't wait so I bought a cup pass (89 bucks). Brilliant! Really high quality sports coverage until about the 25th minute and then you had about as much chance of seeing what was going on as you did of seeing Sean Fitzpatrick in a ruck in 1987.

Twenty minutes of glitches is probably not the end of the world, as long as it doesn't happen again and then it is the end of the world.

Imagine the angry digital buzzing between social media users then. You can ruin our lives, just don't ruin the rugby.

What is the end of the world – the world of entertainment that is – is the inability to only buy what you want, when you want it.

daniel@thesun.co.nz