Viaplay To Exit US And Canada In February

The Swedish over-the-top (OTT) streaming service Viaplay has announced it is shutting down its business in the US and Canada amid a company-wide drive to scale down operations.

Viaplay had launched its standalone service in February 2023 in Canada and March 2023 in the US.

The service will shut down in Canada on February 28th and the US on February 29th. Some Viaplay content will still be available in those countries through partner deals.

In the US, the sports rights formerly shown on Viaplay will be broadcast across Xfinity X1, Flex, Roku, and Xumo, and in Canada the Crave service will host its content. Viaplay holds several sports rights, including for high-profile soccer competitions such as Spain’s top-tier LaLiga competition.

The move had been widely expected, as the company continues to retrench and focus on its more profitable Nordic country markets. Viaplay had recently announced it was exiting a number of European markets, as well as withdrawing from some co-marketing deals in other territories.

Viaplay had recently sold its UK business, and its accompanying suite of rights back to UK-based network Premier Sports, which had operated in the country up until its purchase by Viaplay in 2022.

In July, the company announced that it was laying off 25% of its total workforce, around 450 people, as part of a set of restructuring moves slated to cost around $4 million.