Evolving TV rights scene for Celtic as Nordic company enter talks to buy familiar broadcaster

Add as preferred source on Google

Here at 67 Hail Hail, we know Celtic supporters love keeping up-to-date with the media scene concerning Scottish football and ultimately the Bhoys.

A very interesting snippet of news emerged this week that could end up with direct changes to broadcasts of some Celtic matches while offering an interesting look into the more distant future.

Bloomberg reports that Nordic streaming company Viaplay have entered discussions to buy familiar subscription channel Premier Sports ahead of their pending launch into the UK market later this year.

It’s stated that Viaplay are keen to bolster their UK broadcasting rights portfolio, with Premier currently holding access to the Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup, Spain’s La Liga, rugby league and several other sports.

Bloomberg believes that Viaplay could even reach an agreement this month, though other companies are also considering the purchase of Premier.

Earlier this year, Viaplay bought rights to exclusively show Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish national team football in the UK from 2024.

They are already an established streaming company in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, holding extensive sports rights including the English Premier League in countries such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland and the Netherlands.

Right now, none of this will impact Scottish Premiership broadcasts involving Celtic. Sky Sports hold the exclusive rights to the league action until the end of the 2024/25 season.

However, Viaplay’s entry into the market, if it comes off to the extent reported, does add an interesting dynamic to the overall scene as the SPFL think about what the next big TV deal looks like.

The streaming company, who have a market value of around $1.7 billion [Bloomberg], could theoretically be a competitor for the post-2025 Premiership contract, increasing the value of any deal and offering the league more options.

Although the current SPFL contract runs until then, these kinds of rights negotiations are held well in advance, and Viaplay bursting onto the scene with intent threatens to shake things up.

It’s a developing situation that we’ll be keeping a very close eye on.

In other news, “Technical maturity”, “Beautiful football”; Czech media react to Celtic’s win over Banik Ostrava.