NENT scores Champions League, Europa League media rights agreement
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 10 April 2020

Just weeks after issuing a warning that a lack of the ability to show leading sports to show would lead to reduced revenue at the end of its current financial year, NENT Group has secured additional rights to the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

Specifically the Nordic broadcaster has notched up exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League in Denmark for a further three years until end of 2023/2024 season and to the Europa League and the forthcoming Europa Conference League in Sweden, Norway and Finland from the beginning of the 2021/2022 season until the end of the 2023/2024 season.

NENT currently holds the exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League in Denmark, Norway and Sweden until the end of the 2020/2021 season, and prides itself on the fact that it is the only media company in the world to have shown every season of the Champions League since the competition was established in 1992. The new rights will offer viewers 138 games over 17 match weeks of the highest quality football featuring superstar players from around the world such as Mohamed Salah (pictured), Sadio Mané, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

All matches will be shown on NENT Group's pan-Nordic Viaplay streaming service, with studio programming and local language commentary in every country. A range of games will also be available as part of NENT Group's pan-Nordic Viasat pay-TV offering, and selected games will be shown on the Group's Swedish, Danish and Norwegian TV channels.

"We have a strong and well-balanced portfolio of sports rights that is unrivalled anywhere, and this outcome ensures that our Viaplay and Viasat customers will be able to enjoy more football than ever before,” commented NENT Group president and CEO Anders Jensen. “We are delighted to have extended our UEFA Champions League coverage in Denmark for another three years, and to have added the rights to the UEFA Europa League and new UEFA Europa Conference League in Sweden, Norway and Finland, which many local Nordic teams will compete in. As promised, we have maintained our discipline and not bid up for rights where we cannot generate a return on our investment.”

Yet on 17 March 2020 after it made swingeing price cuts to Viaplay due to lack of top quality sports such as the Champions League, NENT warned that in the event of longer-term postponements or cancellations of the leading sports, it would seek compensation from the sports rights owners under the terms of its contracts. “We are facing an unprecedented situation with widespread postponements of many major sports leagues and events,” Jensen remarked. “We understand and respect the decisions made by sports event organisers around the world, who are rightly focused on safeguarding the health and wellbeing of athletes and fans. We are in close contact with the organisers to discuss how things will be handled moving forward.”