Viaplay primed for Baltics

Scandinavian media giant Modern Times Group (MTG) is expanding the reach of its SVoD service outside of the Nordic region.

Jørgen Madsen Lindemann

MTG is bringing Viaplay to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in partnership with European telecoms company Tele2, having launched the service in Scandinavia five years ago.

Viaplay features thousands of hours of movies, TV series, kids’ content and live sports including UEFA Champions League football and English Premier League football, and will offer coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Baltic consumers can subscribe to Viaplay for €9.99 (US$11.10) per month for the complete content package, or €6.99 without sports.

The service will be available to Tele2 mobile customers via the Viaplay website and smartphone and tablet apps on Android and iOS.

Viaplay will offer more content to consumers in the region than any other video streaming service, claimed Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, MTG president and CEO.

“The Baltic countries are ideal markets for streamed video given the high-speed internet penetration levels and tech-savvy consumers who love great content,” added Lindemann.

The SVoD service moved into original commissioning for the first time last year with LA-set comedy drama Swedish Dicks and also coproduced drama Black Widows with MTG’s TV3 channels in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

More recently, the company began developing Hidden (8×45′) with Banijay Group prodco Yellow Bird.