It’s more than four years since I live streamed a major sporting event.

I was living in New York and it wasn’t being broadcast on cable TV, the only way to watch the 2015 Cricket World Cup legally was to spend about a hundred bucks on a package that upon reflection wasn’t all that different from Spark’s Rugby World Cup system.

At first I was a bit sceptical. I wondered how well the streaming would work and whether I’d get to see the games I wanted.

But it was fantastic. I could not only watch games, and choose which commentary team I wanted to listen to. I could get up in the morning after missing an entire match, and choose from a whole range of different highlights packages. Did I want the one-minute highlights? If it was Afghanistan vs Ireland, maybe that would suffice. The 10 minute highlights? The half an hour highlights? I could watch whatever I fancied whenever I fancied. I could pause games when I needed to pop out for a beer or let me mates in the front door. And Before you knew it, my place with its live streaming set up became an unlikely hub in Spanish Harlem for anyone who wanted to watch a bit of cricket.

It’s maybe because of that experience that I take live streaming for granted a bit. Of course, I watch Netflix and TVNZonDemand. I live stream sport on Sky’s digital platform. Sometimes there are minor technical glitches. Sometimes the picture quality’s imperfect for a few seconds. But largely, it’s great. In my experience, the convenience of streaming far outweighs any issues. If you added up all the stuff I watch on a screen over the space of a month, I reckon I stream at least 10 hours of content for every hour I watch on regular TV.

But I get it. We Kiwis are hopeless when it comes to change. And for anyone who’s a bit uncomfortable with streaming technology, or anyone with an old TV, or anyone who lives in a place where broadband coverage is a bit average. I can understand why you’re a bit anxious. Easy for me living in Central Auckland or indeed Manhattan, to be perfectly comfortable with a brave new streaming World. But what about the folks tucked away in a remote corner of Golden Bay?

There are a couple of things I’d note.

Firstly, we’re on the cusp of introducing 5G. Before you know it, every device in your life is going to be digitally connected and internet enabled. It’s often pulled out as an example, and I’ll believe it when I see it, but it should only be a couple of years before your toothbrush is telling you when you’re coming down with a cold. As it stands, I already use my phone to live stream video over 4G. Last year I was organising a stag do at the top of the Rotorua luge when we all took a few minutes to gather around my phone for a couple of minutes of the Black Caps tearing through a batting attack. It’s fantastic.

The second is that by investing big-time in sports rights beyond the Rugby World Cup, it’s in Spark’s interest to improve broadband availability around the country, especially in rural areas. Spark wants customers. Sport is not only a new revenue stream. It’s a great hook to bring people over to the company for the core services Spark provides. It will be commercially untenable for Spark to deny services to a large part of country.

We are witnessing a massive change in the way we follow sport and consume media in this country. Spark’s new cricket deal is far bigger deal than their Rugby World Cup package. But you needn’t look too far overseas to know this has been on the cards for a while.

You can whinge. Or you can embrace the benefits, and get used to it.