STOCKHOLM: Swedish media group NENT, which is planning to enter Britain later this year with its streaming service Viaplay, would now add live sports in the country.
Known for Nordic noir crime series such as “The Bridge”, NENT is expanding to more than a dozen countries to compete with bigger rivals Netflix and Disney+. It has also secured long-term exclusive rights in Britain to sporting events such as ice hockey, skating and handball from various sports organizations, it said in a statement.
Nordic Entertainment Group’s (Nent) Viaplay streaming service has announced it will include live sports in its UK content line up when it launches in the country in the second half of 2022. The streaming platform is now expanding its focus to include sports properties with a Nordic connection.
Nent has sealed exclusive UK rights to the 2024 and 2028 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Ice Hockey World Championship and the Champions Hockey League (CHL) from 2023/24 to 2027/28. In addition, Viaplay will stream International Skating Union (ISU) figure and speed skating from 2023 to 2028, including the ISU World Figure Skating Championships from 2024.
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The European Handball Federation’s (EHF) European Championship, Champions League, as well as the men’s and women’s European League, will also feature on the service from 2022 to 2030.
Furthermore, rights for European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) competitions have been secured from 2022 to 2026, as have the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series from 2023 to 2029 and the World Athletics Indoor Tour for 2024. International Ski Federation (FIS) snowboard and freestyle events will be broadcast on Viaplay from 2022 to 2026, though these rights are non-exclusive.
Nent stated that Viaplay aims to develop a broad offering in the UK over time that combines live sports with premium original Nordic content. The addition of the UK means Viaplay will have a live sports offering in 2022 across the Nordic region, the Baltics, as well as Poland and the Netherlands.
Further details of Viaplay’s UK content offering, pricing and launch date will be announced in due course. The launch will take the service’s footprint to 12 countries, with at least 16 countries planned by the end of 2023.
Having surpassed more than four million subscribers in February, Nent is targeting approximately 12 million Viaplay subscribers across all territories by the end of 2025.
