Swedish streaming platform promises to conquer Polish market
23:06
The Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT), operating in the Nordic countries, has an appetite for Poland. In November, it informed about the acquisition of rights to broadcast in our country on the Viaplay platform football matches of the first and second German Bundesliga from the season 2021/22 to 2024/25. Now it has extended its offer to the League of Europe (LE) and the League of European Conferences (LKE) for the 2021 / 22-2023 / 24 seasons.
According to Grzegorz Kita, president of Sport Management Polska, the acquisition of Bundesliga broadcasting rights in Poland was already a surprise, but it was considered an incident, not an announcement of changes on the market.
“However, adding LE and LKE to the portfolio already looks serious, especially since in the latter competitions you can expect regular performances of Polish teams. The question is what will be the form of streaming, because in the case of the Bundesliga the group announced a dry broadcast, without commentators and no studio. In such a situation, the average Polish fan may be very dissatisfied, having to pay for an additional subscription of PLN 34. Unless the company offers someone a sub-license, but I doubt it,” Grzegorz Kita assessed.
Viaplay had over 3 million subscribers in 2020. It offers films, series, productions for children, and sports broadcasts. In Poland, it will be launched in August, and by the end of the year in Latvia, Lithuania, and the USA, and by 2023 in five new markets.
“We have the ambition to make the Viaplay platform the leading provider of sports and entertainment content in Poland. We will build our position and sports portfolio step by step,” Anders Jensen, President of NENT, said.
Grzegorz Kita claims that NENT has the potential to disturb the Polish TV rights market.
“However, a lot depends on which rights will be acquired in the coming months. It is worth taking over the possibility of broadcasting disciplines popular among Poles, such as volleyball, handball, or ski jumping,” Grzegorz Kita said.
