Elisa Viihti’s content will be removed from Viaplay. However, the price of the service remains the same.
Elisa Viihde Viaplay will become Viaplay again. The only thing that won’t change is the price. PDO
The streaming service Viaplay’s decision to give up Elisa Viihti’s original content caused an uproar on social media, because the price of the service remains the same, even though many favorite series are removed.
When Elisa Viihde Aitio and Viaplay merged in 2020, the price of the streaming service rose from 9.99 euros to 12.99 euros. The three-euro increase made it the most expensive streaming service in Finland.
Viaplay has also been reluctant to split the sports package separately from the services included in Elisa Viihti. You can’t get sports separately, you have to buy the Elisa Viihde Viaplay Total package, the monthly price of which is a whopping 44.99 euros. The price has increased from the beginning of last year by ten euros.
Somepalvelu X (formerly Twitter) has been in a lot of buzz this week, when Viaplay’s customers have shown their disappointment with the company’s price solution.
– You are quite the masters, Viaplay! The supply will decrease, but the ridiculous price will not change. We wonder when customers lose. I wonder why! one wrote in X.
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The general consensus seems to be that Viaplay is considered to weaken already expensive services. Iltalehti reached Viaplay’s marketing and PR manager Erika Miramon by phone, who only wanted to answer questions by e-mail.
Miramo says that the contract period of Elisa Viihti and Viaplay expired.
– When formulating the partnership that gave rise to the Elisa Viihde Viaplay service, it was agreed that the situation would be re-evaluated when the contract period expired. At this stage, a change in the cooperation model was agreed upon in good agreement, where the Elisa Viihde Viaplay service returns in its entirety to Viaplay Group Sweden AB and changes its name back to Viaplay.
According to Miramo, Elisa Viihde has made up only a small part of Viaplay’s selection. Viaplay also has its own production and Miramo says that from 2020, investments have also been increased in the Finnish market.
No changes to prices
Miramo says that Viaplay is not planning to change the price of the Total package that includes sports or to separate sports into its own package – so those who only follow sports will have to pay for movies and series as well, even if they are not interested in them.
The price of the streaming service alone also remains the same, i.e. at 12.99 euros per month. It is still the most expensive streaming service in Finland when compared to competitors such as Netflix or HBO Max.
In the second quarter of 2023, the Swedish-owned Viaplay made a loss of more than 510 million euros. According to Miramo, the losing result is not the reason for the decision to separate Elisa Viihti and Viaplay, but it is a matter of two separate issues.
– Content is added and removed weekly, this is a normal way of working for streaming services. There is no great drama behind the change.
Miramo promises that Viaplay will offer high-quality viewing in the future. The Viaplay service will continue to be invested in, and the streaming service uses local experts to ensure quality.