UK: sale of Viaplay's direct-to-consumer business to Premier Sports to be finalised on 04/04/2024

Viaplay will complete the sale of its "direct-to-consumer business" in the United Kingdom to the British pay-TV and free-to-air group Premier Sports on 04/04/2024, following "final clearance from the Irish authorities," announced the Swedish audiovisual group on 02/04/2024, after having previously announced the transaction on 29/11/2023.

"Current sports customer subscriptions will be automatically transferred to Premier Sports, with the sports content line-up remaining unchanged," said Viaplay.

The Stockholm-based company initially acquired Premier Sports in a deal valued at £30m (€35m) on 21/07/2022. The Swedish group acquired the media rights held by Premier Sports in the UK and Ireland. The pay-TV channels Premier Sports 1, Premier Sports 2 and the free-to-air channel FreeSports became Viaplay Sports 1, Viaplay Sports 2 and Viaplay Xtra respectively.

Jorgen Madsen Lindemann, CEO of Viaplay, announced the completion of an "immediate strategic review of the entire business to consider all options including content sublicensing, asset disposals, equity injections or the sale of the…