[dvboy]

ViaPlay launches across the three channels on 1 November.

There is some free to view programming on Premier Sports 2 / ViaPlay Sports 2 next week if those who don't subscribe want to see the old and new presentation.

Monday (PS2): 12:45 and 18:45 Snooker Champions League (T20 Cricket on FreeSports)
Tuesday (VS2): 12:15 and 16:00 T20 Cricket CSA Challenge (Snooker on Viaplay Xtra)
Wednesday (VS2): 12:15 and 16:00 T20 Cricket CSA Challenge (Snooker on Viaplay Xtra)

[KrazyKei]

It'll be interesting to see how these re-branded sports channels play out. I wonder if they will invest new money to buy the bigger sporting rights such as the Premier League or Premiership Rugby etc in the future?

[strollfan]

It'll be interesting to see how these re-branded sports channels play out. I wonder if they will invest new money to buy the bigger sporting rights such as the Premier League or Premiership Rugby etc in the future?

My expectation is they throw money about, but won't be able to truly compete with the money of Sky and BT when it comes to the real major properties (PL + CL football, Formula 1 etc). I predict they'll try to win ATP Tour rights since those are now available as Amazon seem unlikely to renew, and follow that up by bidding for a similar package to Prime on the next Premier League bidding window.

[Rdd]

Worth noting that the rebrand apparently isn’t happening in Ireland, though it’s not clear if that’s because Viaplay haven’t purchased the Irish operation or that they have but because they can’t launch the streaming service (being still tied into an exclusive wholesale arrangement with Sky) they are keeping the Viaplay brand in reserve for when that happens.

Because there isn’t a separate feed of Premier Sports for Ireland, or a separate website, we are still seeing the promos for the rebrand. Be interesting to see what happens on Tuesday.

[dvboy]

It'll be interesting to see how these re-branded sports channels play out. I wonder if they will invest new money to buy the bigger sporting rights such as the Premier League or Premiership Rugby etc in the future?

My expectation is they throw money about, but won't be able to truly compete with the money of Sky and BT when it comes to the real major properties (PL + CL football, Formula 1 etc). I predict they'll try to win ATP Tour rights since those are now available as Amazon seem unlikely to renew, and follow that up by bidding for a similar package to Prime on the next Premier League bidding window.

ATP tennis is an interesting one as you potentially have Sky interested as they are rumoured to be close to a deal for the US Open in 2023 onwards.
You then have Discovery/BT either as a joint bid under the new structure or seperately - Discovery already have ATP rights in many countries so it wouldn't cost them too much operationally to extend that, and BT have picked up the Billie Jean King Cup this November suggesting they may have a serious interest in tennis again. They did pick up some ATP 250s last year that weren't on Amazon, and have shown the UK Pro League although I'm not sure that will have attracted many viewers.
FreeSports have also shown a few ATP 250 tournaments so they'll have some experience there.

[BcastCornwall]

Viaplay apps now in all of the App Stores, pricing on Apple is wrong currently though.

EDIT - Subscription system running AND limited content available on GoogleTV and AppleTV platforms now.

[Rdd]

Rebrand has occurred for the linear channels too. Full Viaplay symbol as part of the DOGs, not ideal but not too bad.

And we are seeing the rebrand in Ireland, which given they said there was going be no rebrand in Ireland is a bit odd. It may be a situation akin to Premier Sports/Setanta Sports 1 between 2014 and 2019, where the channel was labelled “Setanta Sports 1” (“eir Sport 2”after 2016) on the EPG but was essentially Premier Sports (at the time a single channel proposition) except on Saturday afternoons when Setanta Sports 1 / eir Sport 2 came out of hiding.

[Rdd]

EPG labels on Sky will change in the U.K. only tomorrow. They’ll remain labelled “Premier Sports” in Ireland so yeah it looks like we’re getting the old Setanta/Premier situation back with the same channel having different names in the two countries.

[BcastCornwall]

Paid for a month, No historic Sport Archive is available so all that seems lost. The lack of linear duplication will cause fretting for many, but those used to AZPV will be ok.

Quality is great though much better than Premier was through AZ Channels. Awaiting a live LaLiga match at the weekend to fully try it out. There's a £36 annual reduction if you commit to 12 months - paying £11.99 instead of £14.99 pm over the contract period.

[Rob Francis]

Here's the Viaplay Xtra ident..

www.youtube.com