Viaplay Adds NHL And KSW Rights To UK Sports Streaming Offering
April 25, 2022
Viaplay will become home to the National Hockey League (NHL) and KSW mixed martial arts (MMA) in the UK. Up to 1,400 games from the world’s best ice hockey league will be shown on Viaplay every year until 2027, alongside 12 high-impact live events from Europe’s leading MMA promotion annually until 2025. Viaplay will launch in the UK in the second half of 2022 with a broad streaming offering that combines live sports with premium original Nordic content and more.
From late 2022 through the 2026-2027 season, NHL fans in the UK will be able to stream every regular season game live on Viaplay, including all NHL Saturday and NHL Sunday games, together with the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup Final and other marquee events, including the NHL Winter Classic, NHL All-Star Game, NHL Stadium Series, NHL Heritage Classic and NHL Global Series. The agreement extends Viaplay and the NHL’s long-term partnership to 10 European markets.
Based in Poland, KSW enjoys a passionate following, and its live events feature top Polish and international MMA competitors. Viaplay and KSW are now working together in 11 countries, and the first KSW event shown on Viaplay in the UK will be in late 2022.
Peter Nørrelund, NENT Group Chief Sports Officer: “We’re already expanding Viaplay’s UK sports line-up with more long-term rights that put us firmly on the map. We have worked with the NHL for 19 years in our Nordic markets, which proves the quality of our coverage. KSW is one of our fastest-growing partnerships and will be broadly available in the UK for the first time. These deals are great news for UK sports fans – and there’s more to come.”
David Proper, NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Media & International Strategy: “Viaplay has been an outstanding partner and key stakeholder in the NHL’s strategy to deliver the game to as many fans as possible throughout the world. We look forward to building on our shared commitment to bring the world’s best hockey players to a broader audience and are thrilled to have expanded our relationship with Viaplay.”
As announced in March, sports available on Viaplay in the UK will include:
- IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: 2024 to 2028
- Champions Hockey League: 2023/2024 to 2027/2028
- ISU figure skating and speed skating: 2023 to 2028 (ISU World Figure Skating Championships from 2024)
- EHF European Handball Championship, EHF Champions League and EHF European League (men and women): 2022 to 2030
- CEV EuroVolley, CEV Champions League, CEV EuroBeachVolley and additional CEV volleyball competitions: 2022 to 2026
- World Athletics Continental Tour Gold: 2023 to 2029
- World Athletics Indoor Tour: 2023
- FIS snowboard and freestyle: 2022 to 2026 (non-exclusive).
Further details of Viaplay’s UK content offering, pricing and launch date will be communicated in due course.
In March, NENT Group announced a proposal to rebrand as Viaplay Group, subject to approval at its Annual General Meeting on 18 May.
