Regulatory News:
Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.) (‘MTG’ or ‘the Group’) (STO:MTGA) (STO:MTGB), the international entertainment broadcasting group, today announced that it has extended its exclusive live broadcasting rights to the UEFA Champions League in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania until the end of the 2011/2012 season. MTG also announced that Viasat has acquired the exclusive live free-to-air broadcasting rights to the English Premier League for Viasat1 in Ghana.
The UEFA Champions League matches will be broadcast on Viasat’s TV6 channels in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and on pay-TV channel Viasat Sport Baltic across the region. Viasat has been broadcasting the UEFA Champions League in the Baltic countries since 2002, and also has the exclusive broadcasting rights to the championship in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Viasat has also extended the non-exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League for Bulgaria and Finland until the end of the 2011/2012 season.
Viasat1 in Ghana was launched in December 2008 and is MTG’s first African free-TV channel. The English Premier League will be the first sports rights aired on the channel, premiering with the match between Everton and Arsenal on 15 August 2009. The rights have been acquired for one year, and Viasat will broadcast a minimum of 33 matches from the 2009/2010 season.
Hans-Holger Albrecht, President & CEO of MTG, commented: “The extension of the UEFA Champions League rights in the Baltic countries continue to demonstrate our commitment to deliver the best premium sports content to our viewers. Our acquisition of the Premier League rights in Ghana is the next step in the development of our first African channel. We are proud to continue our work to implement MTG’s successful business model in the country, whilst offering viewers the very best in premium sports entertainment.”
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Modern Times Group is a leading international entertainment broadcasting group with the second largest geographical broadcast footprint in Europe. MTG's Viasat Broadcasting is the largest free-TV and satellite premium pay-TV operator in Scandinavia and the Baltics, and also operates free-TV channels in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia Bulgaria, Macedonia and Ghana. MTG’s TV assets are broadcast in a total of 30 countries and have 125 million viewers. MTG is also the major shareholder in Russia’s largest independent television broadcaster (CTC Media - Nasdaq: CTCM), and the number one commercial radio operator in the Nordic and Baltic regions.
Modern Times Group MTG AB Class A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm’s Large Cap market (‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’).
The information in this announcement is that which Modern Times Group MTG AB is required to disclose under the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. It was released for publication at 08.00 CET on 13 August 2009.
For further information, please visit www.mtg.se.
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Contacts:
Modern Times Group MTG AB
Hans-Holger Albrecht, President & CEO
Tel:
+46 (0) 8 562 000 50
or
Investor & Analyst Enquiries:
Matthew
Hooper: +44 (0) 7768 440 414
Email: investor.relations@mtg.se
or
Media
Enquiries:
Bert Willborg +44 (0) 791 2280 850
Email: bert.willborg@mtg.se