Apparently Viaplay is already bankrupt! Can Olav Mol come back?
These are dark days for ViaPlay. The Scandinavian streaming service made a name for itself by taking over the rights from Ziggo. Ziggo reportedly joined the race to bid, but they dropped out. The final amount was so high that Ziggo could never make a profit from it.
And it turns out: there isn't much money to be made with it either. As you know, ViaPlay it's very heavy. They managed to avoid bankruptcy by taking serious action against themselves. New capital has been injected, they have borrowed some extra money and they have sold off various loss-making markets.
Viaplay is alive thanks to Max Verstappen
In the Netherlands we still have Viaplay for the time being because of one man: Max Verstappen. The success of the Dutch F1 driver ensures that Dutch people take out a subscription. But there aren't many other reasons, apparently. For example, the gentlemen from Top Gear Netherlands saw that 'Cancel Viaplay subscription' was suddenly very popular on Google, a few seconds after the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP.
But even WITH Max Verstappen it is not enough. According to an analysis of the Financial Daily Viaplay must be in the top 3 of streaming services to be viable. They are currently at number 6.
Increase prices
Viaplay must increase prices to at least cover costs. Anyone who had a subscription for €10.99 per year will now pay €15.99 per month as standard, for example. If the number of subscribers does not increase, there will simply be no money to bid for the next round.
Yes, that moment is coming too. Viaplay still has the broadcasting rights until 2024, so this is more or less the year that it should happen. There doesn't seem to be much chance that they will be able to participate. According to the FD, Viaplay is in such bad shape that they are actually already bankrupt. If Viaplay drops out in the race for broadcasting rights after 2024, this does not mean that Ziggo will automatically take over. The amounts for broadcasting rights are extremely high, so the question remains whether Ziggo is willing to comply.
Through: Sports news
This article What's going on with Viaplay now? first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
#What39s #ViaPlay
