Scandinavia-based streaming platform Viaplay has struck a deal to acquire the 50% of Nordic TV distributor Allente Group that it does not already own, while at the same time entering into a new soccer rights partnership in Norway with commercial broadcaster TV2.
Both agreements have been unveiled today, alongside Viaplay's interim financial results for the second quarter of 2025 (April to June).
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Viaplay's move to take full control of Allente involves the Nordic streaming heavyweight (which has a range of top-tier sports rights) – through a wholly-owned subsidiary – buying up the 50% stake in that group owned by Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor. The deal involves "a cash consideration of SEK1.1 billion," Viaplay has said, equating to $112.6 million.
The acquisition is subject to the usual regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of the year, and has been financed through both available cash and by "a new SEK1,726 million term loan facility."
Allente was formed in May 2020, as a joint venture (back when Viaplay was branded as NENT), through a merger of Viaplay’s Viasat Consumer and Telenor’s Canal Digital pay-TV businesses. The existing distribution agreement between Viaplay and Allente covers the Viaplay platform itself, the premium V sport and V film channels, and local TV channels.
It also covers live English Premier League soccer in Norway (through a deal announced in mid-2022), with the property being extremely popular in Scandinavia.
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By GlobalDataViaplay – arguably the pre-eminent sports broadcaster in the Nordic region – has confirmed that after the deal goes through, "long-term indebtedness" will rise to SEK 6.1 billion.
Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, president and chief executive at Viaplay Group, commented: "The transaction is expected to create opportunities for both Allente and Viaplay Group to expand their customer base, enhance product and service offerings as well as promote operational and commercial synergies such as new product opportunities and offerings across platforms and markets."
Dan Ouchterlony, a Telenor executive vice president, added: "We are proud of what has been accomplished together with Allente and Viaplay over the past five years. As the company enters its next chapter, there is a better fit with Viaplay’s strategy than with Telenor’s."
In 2024, Allente – active across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark – brought in total revenue of SEK6.5 billion and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of SEK996 million.
Meanwhile, Viaplay has also further deepened its relationship with TV2 in Norway, with several sets of soccer rights held by each party to be made available to the other.
In total, the deal covers over 3,000 soccer matches each year.
It extends across top-tier European leagues such as Spain's LaLiga, the German Bundesliga, and France's Ligue 1, as well as encompassing the pan-European UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League competitions. In addition, matches from Norwegian women's soccer's top-tier Toppserien are also included, alongside international fixtures.
These rights will now be made available on both the Viaplay and TV2 Play platforms.
Olav T. Sandnes, TV2's chief executive, said: "We were very pleased with the agreement we reached with Viaplay earlier this year on sharing winter sports and handball rights. This new collaboration on selected football rights is a natural continuation of that."
The new Viaplay soccer package will launch next month, to coincide with the start of the 2025-26 season in most European countries.
These developments have both been made public on the same day that Viaplay has released its interim report for Q2 of 2025.
The group – which endured a seriously challenging financial year in 2023 and has thus had to scale back its international operations over the last two years – saw total reported net sales revenue drop year-on-year to SEK4,313 million. As a contrast, for Q2 of 2024, the equivalent figure was SEK4,485 million.
Net income for Q2, meanwhile, amounted to a loss of SEK49 million, which is, however, an improvement year-on-year from the Q2 2024 loss of SEK120 million.
Lindemann, commenting on the company's long-term financial outlook, has said that it is targeting "double-digit EBITDA margins by 2028."
For the broadcaster's core operations – those in the Nordics and the Netherlands, as well as the Viaplay Select service – reported sales amounted to SEK4,160 million, as opposed to SEK4,292 million the prior year.
