Viaplay is the company which holds the rights to broadcast the NHL in the UK.

They were the official sponsor and broadcaster for the Elite League last season.

The warning signs were apparent when Viaplay ditched the Elite League without a murmur. No official statement was released, nor anything from their social media platforms until responding directly to a fan on Twitter.

As reported by Matt Slater of The Athletic (and by other sources), Viaplay is suffering from financial difficulties.

“Viaplay lost $575 million (£448m) in the second quarter of 2023 and will now pull out of the Baltics, British, North American and Polish markets. It will also make 25 per cent of its workforce redundant.”

“In the short term, this means either selling Premier Sports, the British streaming service it bought last year for $36million (£28million), or shutting it down and handing its rights back to the rights-holders, who include the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and Spain’s LaLiga.”

https://theathletic.com/4706797/2023/07/20/viaplay-broadcaster-scottish-football-redundancies/

For reference, Premier Sports is now operating publicly as Viaplay Sports 1 and 2.

I’ll be referring to Viaplay as VP for the remainder of this article.

So what of the NHL deal?

VP signed a five-year rights deal which runs through until the end of the 2026/2027 season.
Whether they purchased via a middle-man company (likely IMG) or direct from the NHL is unclear.

The latter is possible with VP having a relationship with the NHL stretching back over a decade.

Either way, if VP opts to ditch their acquisition of Premier Sports, then UK viewers could be left without a television/streaming deal.

VP invested heavily in hockey coverage alongside the broadcasting of the NHL.

They secured 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.

The loss of those would be a double blow to UK hockey fans.

For further context to the situation, Scottish football is key to Viaplay in acquiring subscribers, as it was previously to Premier Sports.

The Scottish Professional Football League sold its rights to the previously mentioned media giant IMG, which then sold them on to PS/VP.
There would be little to no issues in the SPFL reselling those rights with DAZN and TNT Sports strong candidates to mop those up, perhaps at an initially lower rate given the circumstances.

More concerning is the fact that VP not only provides the coverage of the Scottish League Cup, it also sponsors the competition. It also shares the rights to the Scottish Cup with the BBC and owns the exclusive rights to Scotland’s international games.

The NHL/IMG would struggle to resell the UK rights to the NHL unless the two aforementioned companies showed some interest.

A deal might be difficult to strike with DAZN and TNT, however.

It’s almost certain that they would value NHL coverage far lower than the original deal signed. Then there is the issue of the current market for broadcasters and the economic situation facing potential subscribers.

There will doubtless be radio silence from VP this summer as they attempt to manoeuvre their way out of their financial mire.
It appears as if they will pull the plug on UK coverage unless a dramatic change of fortune occurs.

If that is indeed the case, then come October, NHL fans in the UK may be left with the one option of NHL TV to stream games.

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