Nordic media giant Viaplay is currently involved in discussions to sublicense or sell on its rights in all its markets outside of the Nordics and the Netherlands, SportBusiness reports.

In its latest earnings call, Viaplay’s president and chief executive Jørgen Madsen Lindemann said Viaplay had “an extremely attractive portfolio of content and there are many opportunities to partner and sublicense content. We are already working on these in this area, in terms of international markets and improving Nordic profitability levels.” Lindemann was speaking after the release of the firm’s second quarter financials, where a staggering net loss of SEK5.9bn ($575m) was recorded.

Lindemann said Viaplay was now focused, for the long-term, on “where they can be profitable and competitive.” This means that in markets such as the UK, Poland, the US and the Baltics, Viaplay is looking to “team up or sell off.”

Asked specifically about Viaplay’s rights to the English Premier League in Poland, which it holds from 2022-23 to 2027-28, Lindemann said it was too early to comment on “ongoing discussions.” However, he did say: “Our working assumption is that on January 1, 2024, we are not carrying those costs in our P&L. That will be what I can tell you at this time.”

Lindemann accepted that Viaplay is of course liable to continue paying rights fees for all its current agreements, “but the ambition is that we find partners.” For now, Viaplay is focused on improving profitability in its core Nordic and Netherlands markets and its Viaplay Select branded entertainment and scripted content concept.

Asked about its rights in the Nordics, Lindemann said sublicensing there is “something we will be looking into”. “You could argue some of the rights eventually fit better in a free TV environment than in a paid or OTT product.”

Lindemann said the company’s ambition is to “stay where we can be profitable,” and that includes the Netherlands. However, when asked about bidding to retain Formula 1 rights in the Netherlands – which Viaplay currently holds from 2022 to 2024 – he was cautious.

“We will look at the business case,” he said. “The assumption is that we will have a strong offering, alongside F1. The business case needs to be profitable.”

The sublicensing and on-sale talks for rights are happening alongside discussions for a potential sale of the entire company, with Lindemann adding that Viaplay are “undertaking an immediate strategic review of the entire business, including content sublicensing, asset disposal, equity injections, or the sale of the whole group.”

Viaplay entered the UK market last year with its takeover of Premier Sports, giving it the rights to the likes of Spain’s LaLiga, the Scottish Cup and Scotland’s national team games. Investors did not push the group’s management on its short-to-medium-term UK plans during the call.

Lindemann, who replaced Anders Jensen as CEO in June as the company predicted wider-than-expected international losses and curtailed profits in the Nordics, last week withdrew the firm’s previously communicated full year 2023 outlook amid the ongoing turbulence.

For the period April 1 to June 30, 2023, Viaplay had net sales of SEK4.6bn, up from SEK3.7bn a year earlier, but the net loss was SEK5.9bn compared with a prior year profit of SEK175m. That was largely caused by write-downs in non-sports content in the Nordics of SEK2bn and in sports content in the Nordics of SEK1.6bn.

For the six months to June 30, sales hit SEK9.1bn, up from SEK.7.05bn, while there was a net loss of SEK6.2bn compared with net income of SEK659m a year ago.