It is the conversation topic all sports executives dread. Rather than speaking about the results on the field – like the merits of the Socceroos' heartening draw with Denmark or Croatia's surprise 3-0 thrashing of Lionel Messi's Argentina – World Cup fans in Australia spent the first week of the tournament asking each other whether their technology had worked.

It was all down to the most unique broadcasting deal signed in Australian sports history, where for the first time a telecommunications firm in Optus telecast big matches exclusively via online streaming after clinching a sub-licensing agreement with SBS.