MTG in qualifying rounds deal & new sports channel launch

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Modern Times Group MTG AB, the international entertainment-broadcasting group, announced that it has signed an agreement that provides MTG with the exclusive broadcasting rights to qualifying rounds for the 2008 European Football Championships and the 2010 World Cup. The four year agreement with Europe´s leading sports marketing group - Sportfive - gives MTG´s Viasat Sport channels the exclusive rights to broadcast the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish national teams´ away games in the build up to the two major football championships (against countries represented by Sportfive, which includes England, France and Greece amongst others).

This agreement builds on MTG´s existing relationship with Sportfive, which has provided Viasat viewers with the opportunity to follow the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish teams´ progress in the qualifying rounds for next year´s World Cup in Germany. It is also a further demonstration of MTG´s commitment to acquire and broadcast the highest quality sports events. MTG´s portfolio of football broadcasting rights includes coverage of the English FA Cup, the Danish Premier League, the French Premier League, the English League Cup as well as the Dutch League and games from the Italian League.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: "This is great news for our viewers - more sport on our channels. Viasat is the number one sports broadcaster in Scandinavia and the continuation of our successful relationship with Sportfive underlines our desire to provide our viewers with the very best in sports entertainment. The World Cup and The European Championship are European football´s two premier competitions and are immensely popular across Scandinavia, as our coverage ofthe qualifying rounds for next year´s World Cup has proven. Over 1.3 million viewers watched last weekend´s qualifier between Sweden and Croatia alone - we look forward to building on this success."

MTG has also announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with the Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK to launch a brand new sports channel - SportN´ - in Norway. SportN´ will provide Norwegian viewers with the very best in local, national and international sports entertainment, and will be available before the end of the year. The new channel will be included in the Viasat pay-TV package to subscribers via Viasat´s DTH satellite platform, as well as through third party cable and IPTV networks.

SportN will replace Viasat Sport 1 in Norway and feature a mixture of Viasat and NRK sports content, including NRK´s coverage of this Winter´s Olympic Games in Turin, as well as Viasat´s coverage of matches from theUEFA Champions League, the French and Dutch premier football leagues, Formula 1 Motor Racing, the US and European Golf tours, and the Ice Hockey World Championships, to name but a few. Viasat now provides a dedicated sports channel for each of the Scandinavian countries, featuring a wide range of the most popular local and international sports events.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: "The launch of SportN reflects our shared commitment with NRK to make the best in sports entertainment broadly available to Norway´s TV viewers and sports fans. We see this as the beginning of a successful cooperation to leverage NRK and Viasat´s combined sports content portfolios and the channel will be unrivalled in terms of the breath and depth of available sports content."

Modern Times Group is an international entertainment-broadcasting group with operations in more than 30 countries around the world. MTG is the largest Free-to-air and Pay-TV operator in Scandinavia and the Baltics, the largest shareholder in Russia´s fourth largest television network, and the number one commercial radio operator in the Nordic region. The Viasat DTH satellite TV platform offers digital multi-channel TV packages of 50 own-produced and third party entertainment channels to viewers in 19 countries across Europe and Viasat TV channels now reach over 60 million people every day.