Canal+ Might Look To Rollout Viu In K+ Territories

K+ was a defunct pay-TV service in Vietnam, known primarily for holding exclusive broadcast rights to the English Premier League and other major sports properties. It formed part of a joint venture between VTV (Vietnam Television) and Canal+.

Its shutdown marked the end of a 16-year era where K+ was the "undisputed king" of sports broadcasting in the country. But due to various economic factors like piracy, cord cutting and streaming K+ ceased operations in Vietnam.

Canal+ had since been banking on Viu in which they operate alongside PCCW Media Limited. Its a streaming service based in Hong Kong that accumulated 66.4 million subscribers of which 12.2 million serve as paying subscribers.

Canal+ has been using Viu to distribute K+ content across 16 markets in Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East including Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia.

Prior to K+ closure in Vietnam, Canal+ had also shuttered its pay-tv operations in Ethiopia and the buyout of MultiChoice gave them re-entry in the region. The closure of K+ in Vietnam is likely telling a similar tale to its failed Ethiopian business.

Canal+ has a 36.8% stake in Viu with the option of increasing it to 51% giving them majority control. It could be that they're awaiting to buy up the the number of shares before expanding as there's not much they can do with the current stake.