Viaplay CEO Anders Jensen has promised they will bring ‘added value’ to the households of Scottish football fans after the broadcaster announced its intention to acquire Premier Sports.
Celtic’s matches in the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup currently air on Premier, but a rebranding is set to follow with new ownership of the TV rights being announced earlier today, pending the approval of regulators.
Viaplay have described it as a ‘significant acceleration’ of their plans in the UK, with the full launch of a new service coming later this year.
In an interesting set of comments given to Broadcast magazine, Jensen says he isn’t attracted by English Premier League rights in the UK, instead intending to build a value-for-money service.
He said: “For us to start to think about the Premier League in the UK based on our starting point and our ambitions to create a return, no, it’s not very attractive. I don’t think that it is a proven model if you’re not an established player, like a Sky or somebody else. I think there are other ways to create value for the consumer.
“I have no doubt in my mind when it comes to the importance and the value of sports as a way of connecting with customers, with fans, and with viewers. It is a very, very strong proposition, but it cannot be sports alone because sports rights come and go. You have to be able to say no if it becomes too expensive. It’s a portfolio that you’re managing.”
He then referenced Scottish football specifically, stating: “It [the service] is very cost-efficient, which I think is something that’s going to be very, very important for the coming years when household economies are under pressure. If you’re a Scottish football fan and you can get access to everything that we will bring for the kind of prices that we’re looking at, it’s going to be value added for households if they want to repurpose their money in more and more financially depressed times.”
It’s now going to be interesting to see how Viaplay handles upcoming Scottish football broadcasts. They could stick with the status quo, similar presenters and pundits, or try to shake things up and freshen up the scene, especially if they want to stand out.
With Scottish Premiership rights coming up in 2025 too, it’ll be intriguing to see if the Nordic group are truly interested in investing and rivalling Sky on our product, if not England’s.
Jensen may find the value he’s looking for in Scotland. In turn, supporters could too, if it means they don’t have to shell out for the Sky Sports package.
But first let’s see how they handle the cup competitions and what kind of offering becomes available.
In other news, “What a great place to go”; Dean Smith relishing Celtic Park visit with Norwich this weekend.
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