New NHL Streaming Service for the UK from 2022

It’s been confirmed that a company based in Stockholm, Sweden, shall be offering UK fans a streaming service to watch the NHL as of the 2022-23 season.

The ‘Nordic Entertainment Group’ offers streaming services, TV channels, radio stations and production companies in its entire portfolio.

The Viaplay Streaming series is the brand that will be offered to fans in the UK.

As per the official press release “From late 2022 through the 2026-2027 season, NHL fans in the UK will be able to stream every regular-season game live on Viaplay, including all NHL Saturday and NHL Sunday games, together with the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup Final and other marquee events, including the NHL Winter Classic, NHL All-Star Game, NHL Stadium Series, NHL Heritage Classic and NHL Global Series.”

Viaplay has also added live events from KSW, Europe’s leading MMA promotion, onto its streaming service.

“Based in Poland, KSW enjoys a passionate following, and its live events feature top Polish and international MMA competitors. Viaplay and KSW are now working together in 11 countries, and the first KSW event shown on Viaplay in the UK will be in late 2022.”

Viaplay is due to launch in the UK in the second half of 2022 and a lot of sporting coverage has already been lined up.

IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: 2024 to 2028

Champions Hockey League: 2023/2024 to 2027/2028

ISU figure skating and speed skating: 2023 to 2028 (ISU World Figure Skating Championships from 2024)

EHF European Handball Championship, EHF Champions League and EHF European League (men and women): 2022 to 2030

CEV EuroVolley, CEV Champions League, CEV EuroBeachVolley and additional CEV volleyball competitions: 2022 to 2026

World Athletics Continental Tour Gold: 2023 to 2029

World Athletics Indoor Tour: 2023

FIS snowboard and freestyle: 2022 to 2026 (non-exclusive).

The NHL isn’t a stranger to the Viaplay brand as this new agreement extends the long-term partnership to ten European markets.

“Peter Nørrelund, NENT Group Chief Sports Officer: “We’re already expanding Viaplay’s UK sports line-up with more long-term rights that put us firmly on the map. We have worked with the NHL for 19 years in our Nordic markets, which proves the quality of our coverage. KSW is one of our fastest-growing partnerships and will be broadly available in the UK for the first time. These deals are great news for UK sports fans – and there’s more to come.”

The Viaplay streaming service is already available in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the US and the Netherlands.

The plan is to expand even after broaching the UK market with the press release intimating that the brand will head into Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland by the end of 2023.

David Proper, NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Media & International Strategy: “Viaplay has been an outstanding partner and key stakeholder in the NHL’s strategy to deliver the game to as many fans as possible throughout the world. We look forward to building on our shared commitment to bring the world’s best hockey players to a broader audience and are thrilled to have expanded our relationship with Viaplay.”

The official press release can be found here: https://www.nentgroup.com/news/news-releases/viaplay-adds-nhl-and-ksw-rights-uk-sports-streaming-offering

So apart from the obvious, what does this mean for NHL TV and/or Premier Sports?

At this point, it’s pure speculation.

PS had a five-year deal that expired and I’m led to believe a one-season deal was struck for the current campaign.

If they do agree on a deal (or the current deal is beyond this season) with the NHL, how that would work in conjunction with Viaplay is a mystery. The assumption is a similar system to NHL TV, upon which live games on PS would be blacked out for 24 hours.

Details are vague or not available at this stage and I may contact NEG to see whether there are answers to these types of queries at this tentative stage.

As for NHL TV, I surmise it will not be available to UK fans (watch out for a lack of renewal emails).

There are no pricing packages available but I’ll attempt to garner some information regarding what they charge other European countries to see whether any comparisons and figures can be drawn from that.

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