The Danish arm of Discovery Networks, the media group whose channel portfolio includes Kanal 5 and Eurosport, has dramatically reduced the cost of its sports streaming package in response to a distribution stand-off with YouSee, the Danish quadruple play service provider.
YouSee is to remove Discovery’s channels from its packages at the end of this year and Discovery is now looking to offset the drop in exposure by attracting more customer to its Dplay Sport streaming offering.
The Dplay Sport price has been cut from DKK179 (€13.17/$14.53) per month to DKK99.95 per month, a 44-per-cent reduction. The price drop takes effect for the next six months and existing customers’ subscriptions will be automatically lowered accordingly.
Christian Kemp, director at Discovery Networks Denmark, said: “With our Dplay Sport campaign, we want to make our sports rights properties as visible and accessible to as many Danes as possible. At the same time, we hope that this offer can be a good alternative for the many YouSee customers who will lose access to our channels on January 1.”
The 11 channels that make up the Dplay Sport package include Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2, plus the Kanal 4, Kanal 5, 6’eren and Canal 9 channels. The Discovery, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery and TLC channels also sit within the package.
Kanal 5 holds rights to Denmark’s qualifying matches for Euro 2020 and the 2022 Fifa World Cup, while 6’eren broadcasts the Uefa Europa League and England’s EFL Cup, and Canal 9’s sports output focuses on esports. Eurosport’s suite of rights in Denmark includes Danish football’s Superliga, cycling’s Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, Le Mans 24 Hours, along with tennis’ Australian Open, French Open and Davis Cup.
Earlier this year, Discovery retained rights to Danish football’s top flight during the 2021-24 cycle, acquiring rights to the second- and fifth-pick match from each match week.
Discovery has built up its sports rights portfolio in Denmark and the rest of the Nordic region since Discovery first invested in Eurosport in 2012. The media group went on to acquire exclusive centralised media rights for qualifying matches for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in a landmark deal in the region.
Kanal 5 registered its best-ever audience when it broadcast the 2018 World Cup playoff second leg between Ireland and Denmark. An average of 1.28 million viewers watched the game.