Fans left staring at blank screen as Kayo crashes on NRL's return

Foxtel's streaming service Kayo Sports left fans frustrated with many unable to view the first pay-TV game of the NRL since the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down in March.

Some fans who tried to log in to the service to watch the 6pm kick-off between the Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys were unable to do so, greeted with an error message or a frozen screen.

"We are currently experiencing an issue with profiles and logging in," the Kayo website read. "We are doing everything we can to get it back up and running."

Kayo has been contacted for comment.

Fans on social media speculated that Kayo was unprepared for a higher-than-usual volume of people, with many non-rugby league fans tuning in to watch while most sports remain on hiatus.

A similar issue affected Optus's streaming platform, Optus Sport, during the 2018 FIFA World Cup when it struggled to deal with the number of people during the opening days of the tournament.

As a result, SBS was given the rights to broadcast every game for the remainder of the World Cup.

More to come