Any fears that Scottish football would be impacted by Viaplay’s withdrawal from the UK market have been eased after the rights they owned were bought by another broadcaster.
Viaplay announced in July that, to cut costs, they would be focusing on their business in Nordic countries after a bold entry into the UK with the purchase of rights owned by Premier Sports.
Now, Premier are coming back and have re-purchased all of the rights associated with Scottish football that Viaplay had, including the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.
It’s said that these are worth £2.5m per year for Scottish clubs, with Celtic banking over £1m from tournaments that Viaplay broadcast during the 2022/23 treble-winning season.
So it’s good news these rights have been picked up and there will be no future issues with payments. The deal runs until the end of the 2026/27 season.
Viaplay had also become the title sponsor of the Scottish League Cup and it’s presumed this will now again be named the Premier Sports Cup, although that has yet to be confirmed.
Celtic set for return to Premier Sports
A statement from Premier Sports read: “Premier Sports is delighted to announce it will be returning to the UK in early 2024 subject to competition approval having agreed to take back control of the business which was recently sold to the Viaplay Group.
“Premier Sports offering of great content will continue to be delivered via the same channels on Sky and Virgin. Customers preferring to stream can continue to use Amazon Prime and iTunes while Premier Sports will launch its own newly enhanced streaming service when the brand returns to the UK early in the new year.
“For current customers, this will mean a seamless transition to Premier Sports and very much business as usual with all the great content still available to watch on customers preferred platforms.
“The Sports broadcaster returns to the UK with continued coverage of the Scottish FA Cup and exclusive Scottish League Cup. International football will continue to be showcased with Scotland’s national team games and the UEFA Euro 2024 playoffs as countries countdown UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany.”
Sky Sports will continue to be exclusive broadcasters of the Scottish Premiership in the UK & Ireland until 2029. In Europe, TNT Sport and Amazon are set to share UEFA club matches from next season, which could impact Celtic.
In other news, The latest from Portuguese media on Celtic and Tiago Araujo with Benfica clause a factor.
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