Yle has lost the rights to televise Finland qualifying matches for major football tournaments after the current campaign to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. From 2018 Finland games will be shown on Viasat, a subscription service.
The Swedish-owned company has purchased the rights to show matches in qualifying for the 2020 European Championships and 2022 World Cup, as well as the new Uefa Nations League competition.
"We made a competitive offer, but it would not have been responsible use of our funding, and wouldn't have been possible either, to enter a bidding war," said the head of Yle's sport unit, Panu Pokkinen. "We have to make sure that our content will remain broad and varied."
In future, games played by the 'Eagle Owls' will be shown live on Viasat's subscription channels, as well as the free-of-charge online Viafree service. The matches will probably not be shown on traditional, free-to-air television channels at all.
"At present it looks like we'll be showing the games free on Viafree, which works with broadband," said Viasat Finland Managing Director Mathias Norrback. "In Finland operators offer broadband to every home. Viafree streams can be watched on television, computers, tablets or mobile."
The current qualifying campaign will be shown on Yle channels, and the next qualifying match will be against Ukraine on 11 June in Tampere.