FINA, the international governing body for most aquatic sports, has announced that they will shut down the FINAtv service as of April 30, 2021.
The streaming service played home to FINA events, from World Cups to World Championships, in nations where those events did not otherwise have a proper rightsholder. Subscribers also had access to watch past FINA events, like the most recent 2019 World Championships, on demand.
“Despite this news, rest assured FINA remain absolutely committed to bringing our fans the very best competitions that our Sport has to offer on Digital as well as with our brilliant Broadcast partners,” the organization said in announcing the decision.
Follow-up questions posed by SwimSwam about the company’s digital strategy moving forward, and if FINAtv would be replaced by another streaming and on demand service, went unanswered.
When announced in 2017, FINA President Julio Maglione referred FINAtv it as a “state-of-the-art platform.” The project was a partnership with Deltatre, an organization that also provides services to organizations like Major League Soccer and the Indian Super League (cricket – ISL).
Event subscriptions for recent events like the World Championships cost $25, with monthly and annual passes also available. Annual subscribers will have the pro-rata portion of their costs refunded.
Did it not generate enough revenue?
I had a subscription up until the pandemic.
That sucks. Enjoyed the broadcasts and announcers