Viaplay has been temporarily saved, thanks to a minimal financial injection for which they pay a huge price.
Well, that was a bit exciting! Viaplay has not been doing very well for some time now. The store from Sweden had a brilliant plan. They bought the broadcasting rights for Formula 1 in – among others – the Netherlands. With their streaming service they could then convince everyone to take out a subscription.
The money would slosh against the skirting boards and other mountains of gold were promised to the shareholders. However, the expected success did not materialize. Viaplay did not make a great start. It started with a lot of technical issues. There were also a lot of people who really liked Olav Mol and Jack Plooij and therefore did not make the switch. After more than 25 years, it is difficult to get used to a new voice for the sport.
Viaplay temporarily saved
And to think that Viaplay is still doing relatively well in the Netherlands. We have Max Verstappen here and many people want to see him win 15.99 euros a month. But it seems that Viaplay is only available for Formula 1. That is not surprising, because there is not much else interesting on it. And yes, the undersigned has a subscription.
Things seemed to be going in the wrong direction, but Viaplay is not going under for the time being. They have received an emergency package. Viaplay reports this on the site of, er, Viaplay. Viaplay has therefore been temporarily saved. This emergency package amounts to 20 million, which is intended to keep Sweden's head above water in the short term. They received that money from Canal+ (known for well-produced nature documentaries) and PPF (an investment company from the Czech Republic that we cannot make dirty jokes about).
Shares forgiven
Those two parties did not just give the money. In return, they had to give away 29.3% of the shares PER PARTY. So PPF and Canal+ have 29.3% of the shares. This means that Viaplay is at the mercy of these two parties. Now PPF has a lot of money and Canal+ understands media, something that seemed to be missing at Viaplay.
By the way, only the coming season has been saved. Nothing is yet known about the negotiations for next year. They are still running now. In addition to Viaplay, Canal+ was a candidate, as was Ziggo.
This Viaplay article temporarily saved: enjoy with Nelson and Melvin! first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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