A day of turmoil at Viaplay has ended with France’s Canal+ taking a minority shareholding in the company. Viaplay has said it will withdraw from the UK.
This morning, Viaplay opaquely told investors in a press release it would be focusing on the Nordics, the Netherlands and its international Viaplay Select business. It would also “discontinue” its “low tier non-sports offering in each of [its] international markets.”
Translation into plain English followed, with the publication of a presentation which spelled out the bitter reality: Viaplay plans to exit the UK. But Viaplay representatives told subscribers only its streaming service was affected: Viaplay channels on satellite and cable would continue.
However, Viaplay is as of this afternoon still taking orders for its UK streaming service. This even includes a 12 month contract option – an option that doesn’t seem to be a wise investment.
This afternoon, Canal+ confirmed it would take a 12% share in the business, as Viaplay indicated it would be open to selling parts of all of its international business. Despite Canal+ taking shares in Viaplay, it’s expected that Viaplay will still ultimately seek to sell its UK sports channels.
Viaplay has racked up big losses as it sought to expand too quickly as the streaming market started to stutter. Additionally, in its core Scandinavian markets, TV ad revenues have fallen significantly.
Meanwhile, Canal+’s move will protect Viaplay’s pipeline of content available through Canal+ platforms in some European countries.
Marc Thornham