The stream of the Euro 2020 soccer semi-final, one of the UK's most-watched TV moments in recent times, was yesterday hindered by frustrating technical issues for Apple TV users.
The technical problems, first reported on by iMore, affected viewers using the ITV Hub app for the Apple TV. According to ITV, the match was watched by as many as 27.6 million people, making it one of the most-watched moments in the UK since the London 2012 Olympics.
Portions of the tense second half of the match between England and Denmark were unwatchable on the Apple TV due to a problem that repeatedly kicked viewers out of the stream. Upon attempting to reconnect, the app played a number of ads before resuming and being kicked out again.
So, the adverts play OK, but then #itvhub decides that it doesn't want to go. Then try again and same result... Good job there's nothing important on tonight, like say a sporting event.. pic.twitter.com/RNZilb3Urc — Steve Steer (@Somst_Fruitcake) July 7, 2021
ITV was the only way for UK viewers to watch the game, which likely resulted in unusually large numbers of people trying to join the stream via ITV Hub. Nevertheless, streaming from ITV Hub on other devices appeared to be unaffected. ITV has since apologized to viewers over the experience.
The historic Euro 2020 final between England and Italy will be streamed via both BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub in the UK on Sunday, which should reduce the load on the stream, and at least provide viewers with an alternative if one of them suffers from issues. England fans will nevertheless have had reason to celebrate yesterday in spite of the problems with ITV Hub.
