Best of British SVOD service launches in Finland

Cirkus, the UK content SVOD service, has launched in Finland.

The service has launched on the Sonera IPTV platform, which is run by Swedish/Finish telco TeliaSonera. It rolled out this week on the Finnish service and will then launch on the Telia service in Sweden in January.

Cirkus is a low-cost SVOD service for pay TV operators and is seen as a way for pay TV incumbents to insure themselves against the threat of the wave of new OTT platforms.

It offers on-demand access to shows from distributors including All3Media International, BBC Worldwide and Endemol Worldwide Distribution (now part of the Endemol Shine Group). It also has content from ITV Studios, the content arm of UK broadcaster ITV, which bought into Cirkus earlier this year.

The service has fared well in the Nordic territories, where UK programming is popular with viewers, launching on Com Hem and Boxer in Sweden.