Technical difficulties meant Turner ended up giving away its pay-per-view broadcast of “The Match” for free.
Turner had been offering the exclusive live stream of the Friday charity match between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods for $19.99 through their “B/R Live” service, and it was expected to be a big draw for the fledgling streaming platform. However, the service apparently suffered a myriad of technical difficulties, and users quickly found they could watch the match for free.
According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, the platform had a hard time handling purchase requests, and those who had bought access to the match were struggling to get in and see it. In light of that, Turner opted to simply make the stream free.
BREAKING: Source says Turner execs decided to give Phil-Tiger match away for free on B/R Live streaming platform (instead of $20 charge) when purchase function broke down to point where those who bought had trouble getting in.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 23, 2018
It’s unclear if those who had paid the fee would be refunded. No problems for those who purchased the match through their cable provider appeared to be reported.
What was expected to be a big spectacle with two of the world’s most famous golfers has been upstaged by a skywriter, and now the fact that the paid stream ended up turning into a disaster for the provider. We’ll see what comes of that in the days ahead.
