It was announced ten days ago that Premier Sports is to buy back UK business from Viaplay.

The Nordic-based company acquired Premier Sports in 2022, taking on the pay-TV broadcaster’s extensive sports rights contracts and channels as part of an expansion into the UK market.

The initial deal was worth £300 million over a year ago but no figure has been released as to what the resell package is worth.

As previously mentioned, Viaplay has struggled with the costs of expansion, a huge turnover of subscribers and advertising has generated lower income than previously hoped.

It’s currently a tough marketplace with so many options available and this bold expansion move sadly backfired.

Viaplay will continue to focus its efforts in the native Nordic and Netherland regions for the time being as the company cuts its cloth accordingly.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval but looks set to happen very shortly.

As for Premier Sports, they are relaunching channels early next year along with a new streaming service. No details are currently available regarding the latter.
Premier Sports content will continue to be offered to subscribers via Sky, Virgin and Prime.

So the NHL will be back on Premier Sports before the completion of the 2023-24 campaign, which will doubtless split opinion amongst the UK hockey base.

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