Viaplay Group AB, formerly known as Nordic Entertainment Group AB (NENT Group), is a Swedish media and entertainment company headquartered in Stockholm.
The company operates the video streaming services Viaplay, advertising-funded TV and radio channels, as well as the studio production company Viaplay Studios. Viaplay Group was founded in 2018 as a spinoff from MTG. Viaplay Group's first day as a publicly traded company, on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, was on 28 March 2019.
History In March 2018, the Stockholm-headquartered entertainment company Modern Times Group (MTG) initiated a process to split into two companies by spinning off its Nordic Entertainment and MTG Studios business segments, plus Splay Networks, into a new company. This was initiated after Danish telecommunications operator TDC A/S, which had proposed to buy these assets a month earlier, was itself acquired by the Australian private equity firm Macquarie Group. Anders Jensen, previously MTG executive vice president and CEO of Nordic Entertainment, was named president and CEO of NENT Group in 2018. On 5 June, Jørgen Madsen Lindemann was named president and CEO of Viaplay Group.
NENT Group began operating separately on 1 July 2018. On 28 March 2019, shares in Nordic Entertainment Group started trading on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange.
NENT Group took a stake in Erik Feig's Picturestart studio, along with first-look Nordic rights to its content at Picturestart's May 2019 launch.
On 5 May 2020, Pay-TV satellite platform Viasat, which was previously owned by NENT Group, merged with Canal Digital to form Allente. Although the merger meant that NENT Group and Telenor Group each own 50%, Allente TV was to be operated as an independent company. Through the merger, NENT Group's channels, including the V channels, were made available on Allente's platform. NENT Group operated Pay-TV, the Viasat satellite platform in Scandinavia and offered both in-house and third-party channels.
On 13 April 2021, the merger of Canal Digital and Viasat in Allente was completed.
On 16 September 2021, NENT Group announced the reorganisation of its studio operations, previously called NENT Studios, as Viaplay Studios. With Viaplay Studios, the company announced that the main focus of the studio operations would be content production for the Viaplay streaming platform.
On 18 May 2022, the company's shareholders approved the change of the company's name to Viaplay Group. In July 2022, Viaplay Group acquired U.K.-based sports streamer and pay TV channel operator Premier Sports for $36 million
In July 2023, Vivendi's Canal+ Group acquired a 12% minority stake in Viaplay Group for an undisclosed amount of money. In January 2024, Canal+, in association with PPF, increased its stake to 29%, planning to raise 4 billion Swedish krona (SEK) ($391 million) in order to write down 2 billion krona of debt and renegotiate terms of debt totalling an estimated 14.6 billion krona.
In November 2023, it was announced that Viaplay Group had sold its U.K.-based sports streamer and pay TV channel operator, Premier Sports, back to SSBL Limited, just a little over a year after they had become Viaplay channels.Premier Sports buys out Viably UK
Company structure
The streaming service Viaplay in the Nordics Viaplay Group operates the subscription video on demand (SVOD) streaming service Viaplay, which launched as Viasat OnDemand in Sweden 2007, in 2011 it was rebranded Viaplay.
Viaplay Group previously operated Viafree, an advertising video on demand (AVOD) streaming service in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. On 29 November 2021, NENT Group announced that Viafree would soon to be part of Paramount Global (under Pluto TV), with the announcement that the said AVOD streamer will be integrated into Pluto TV on 18 May 2022.
On 1 April 2020, Viaplay launched in Iceland, the final Nordic market to launch the streaming service, making Viaplay available in all Nordic countries, which was first announced in 2019.
On 24 June 2020, Viaplay's Finnish service merged with rival Elisa Viihde Aitio, owned by Elisa, to form Elisa Viihde Viaplay.
Viaplay international expansion At Viaplay Group's Capital Markets Day (CMD) in November 2020, the company presented its 5-year expansion plan, with targets of 10 added international markets by 2023 (for a total of 15 markets), and a total of 10.5 million subscribers, by 2025. On the following year's CMD, in 2021, Viaplay Group raised the targets to launching Viaplay on at least 16 markets by 2023 and had the subscription target raised to 12 million subscribers by 2025.
On 11 February 2021, Viaplay Group announced that the company had raised 4.35 billion krona to support the company's vision of launching Viaplay on 10 markets by the end of 2023, in line with the communicated expansion plan which was announced on the company's 2020 Capital Markets Day. Poland and the US were presented as two of the new markets, along with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which had already been announced. On 9 March 2021, Viaplay launched in the Baltics, adding Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
On 20 May 2021, Viaplay Group announced the launch of Viaplay in the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2022 with exclusive Formula One, Bundesliga, and Professional Darts Corporation rights. Less than two months later, the company also announced that it had acquired rights to the English Premier League in the Netherlands. On 3 August 2021, the company launched Viaplay in Poland with premium sports rights, and announced the three first Viaplay Originals' productions in Polish – Polish Murderesses, Black Dog, and Freedom of the Swallow.
On 22 September 2021, Viaplay Group announced that Viaplay would launch in at least 16 markets by the end of 2023, including in the UK in the second half of 2022, and Canada, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2023. On Viaplay Group's Capital Markets Day in November 2022, it was announced that the launches in the US and Canada would proceed as planned, while the direct-to-consumer launch in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland would wait due to the world economic situation.
In July 2022, Viaplay Group announced that they were officially acquiring Premier Sports prior to the UK launch. The channel, which also include FreeSports, would soon be rebranded as Viaplay Sports network. On 1 November 2022, the streaming service launched in the UK.
On 22 February 2023, the direct-to-consumer app launched in the US, with a clear focus on premium European content. On 7 March 2023, Viaplay launched in Canada, increasing its footprint to 13 direct-to-consumer markets.
Viaplay Select In 2022, Viaplay Group created Viaplay Select, a branded content concept for partner platforms. In less than a year after the first deal was signed Viaplay Select had already launched on 20+ markets. Viaplay Select can be found with partners around the world, primarily in countries where the streaming service Viaplay is not available direct-to-consumer. It means that partners get access to a wide selection of Viaplay's successful series, films, and documentaries, together with curated third-party content from across the Nordic region. The content is made available in a branded Viaplay section within the partner platform.
Advertising funded television (Free-TV)
Viaplay Group operates advertising-funded channels in Scandinavia. Typically, the portfolio structure for these channels is one primary channel (TV3), and then secondary channels (TV6, TV3+, etc.) These channels generate primarily advertising revenues, and are classified as free-TV, but are encrypted and subject to decoding fees.
Networks, financed by advertising Channel type Sweden Norway Denmark Finland General TV3 TV3 TV3 Viaplay TV General secondary TV6 TV3+ TV3+ Supplementary TV8 TV10 TV6 TV3 Puls TV3 Max TV3 SportSeeViaplay Xtra
Viaplay TV (+) (Netherlands) On 2 April 2024, Viaplay Group announced a partnership with Talpa under which channel SBS9 will be renamed Viaplay TV effective 5 April 2024. The channel will cross-promote the Viaplay streaming service by featuring broadcasts of selected sports properties from the service, such as Formula One, PDC darts, and Premier League football. On 14 March 2025, in anticipation for the start of the 2025 Formula One season, the channel split into 2, with the Viaplay TV name becoming a cable sports channel, while the former Viaplay TV channel position reverted to SBS9. Viaplay TV also launched a premium channel, Viaplay TV+, initially available on ODIDO and DELTA, starting on the same day.
Pay television
TV services On 5 May 2020, the merger between Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer was completed, and formed Allente - the Viasat satellite platform in Scandinavia, offering both in-house and third party channels. By owning a 50% stake in the TV distributor Allente, Nordic Entertainment Group distributes its pay-TV channels including V sports, V series and V film in Scandinavia.
The sports channels available in the different Scandinavian countries differ somewhat depending on different rights held for different markets and different business agreements.
The following channels are available in each country: SwedenDenmarkNorwayFinlandNetherlandsV crimeV crimeV crimeV crimeViaplay TVV classicsV classicsV classicsV classicsViaplay TV+V film premiereV film premiereV film premiereV film premiereV film actionV film actionV film actionV film actionV film hitsV film hitsV film hitsV film hitsV film family (SD)V film family (SD)V film family (SD)V film family (SD)V seriesV seriesV seriesViaplay 1 UrheiluViaplay SportViaplay Sport NewsV sport +Viaplay 2 UrheiluV sport extraViaplay Sport 1V sport 1Viaplay 3 UrheiluV sport premiumViaplay Sport 2V sport 2V sport premiumV sport footballViaplay Sport 3V sport 3V sport 1V sport vinterV sport golfV sport golfV sport footballV sport motorV sport ultra HDV sport ultra HDV sport vinterV sport 1V sport live (SD)V sport live (SD)V sport golfV sport golfV sport Premier LeagueV sport ultra HDV sport ultra HDV sport Premier League 1V sport live (SD)V sport live (SD)V sport Premier League 2V sport Premier League 3V sport Premier League 4
Radio Viaplay Group owns several radio stations in Sweden and the P4 Group in Norway:
SwedenNorway (DAB+)Rix FM, national network in Sweden (FM & DAB+)P4 Lyden av NorgeStar FM, national network in Sweden (FM & DAB+)P5 HitsBandit Rock, station in Stockholm (FM & DAB+)P6 RockLugna Favoriter, station in Stockholm (FM & DAB+)P7 KlemPower Hit Radio, station in Stockholm (DAB+)P8 PopI Like Radio, streaming service in Sweden (Internet)P9 RetroP10 CountryP11 DanceP12 Hitmix
Viaplay Studios
Viaplay Studios (formerly known as MTG Studios and, later, NENT Studios) is a Sweden television production division of Viaplay Group.
History of Viaplay Studios In December 2007, Modern Times Group announced that they had sold independent production and distributor Sonet Film to Swedish film and television production and distribution company Svensk Filmindustri.
In January 2008, Talentum announced that they had sold their Finnish film and television production company Varesvuo Partners along with their subsidiaries Moskito Television, Kaivopuiston Grillifilmi, and Angel Films to private equity fund manager CapMan. This gave the latter a film and television division. Four months later, in May of that same year, CapMan announced that they had merged Varesvuo Partners, dba, and Moskito Television with Norwegian production company Monster Media AS. This created a new Nordic television, film, and commercial production company under the name The New Black OY.