Sweden's first around the clock multimedia sports event
SWEDEN'S FIRST AROUND THE CLOCK MULTIMEDIA SPORTS EVENT Modern Times Group MTG AB will, for the first time, be using all of its media channels to cover the 2001 Ice Hockey World Championships in Germany, which start this weekend. Viasat digital TV coverage will be broadcast 24 hours a day, enabling sports fans to follow the progress of Sweden's "Three Crowns" and the other national teams on the TV3 and Viasat Sport channels as well as three dedicated Hockey Xtra channels. It will be possible to keep up to date on the championships on the Everyday.TV digital TV portal, through the Internet, by mobile telephone, tele-text or hand-held computers. "The ice hockey world championships are by far the most important event in our wide-ranging sports coverage, so it's natural for us to provide fans with all the additional opportunities to follow the championships on digital TV and through all our other new media," says Hans-Holger Albrecht, MTG's President and CEO. Homes with Viasat satellite dishes and digital TV decoders will receive the widest coverage, including the three Hockey Xtra channels, which will offering 24-hour a day coverage: · The highlights channel - Hockey Xtra 1 will continuously broadcast short summaries of all the highlights. · The behind-the-scenes channel - Hockey Xtra 2 will broadcast interviews, reports and player profiles. A ten-minute long gaming programme will be broadcast at 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16.00, in co- operation with the Swedish gaming company Svensk Spel · The replay highlights channel - Hockey Xtra 3 will show all matches on TV 3 and Viasat Sport, with a one-minute delay. It will therefore be easy to quickly see replays of goals and other highlights. Repeats of matches involving the Swedish team will also be shown. Digital TV households will also have access to news, team line-ups, player profiles, results and statistics, informations about the match venues and upcoming matches, on Everyday.TV, the interactive digital TV portal. MTG's new business area New Media is responsible for Everyday.TV, and for the other interactive services in connection with the ice hockey world championships. The Internet portal Everyday.com will focus on the Swedish team, with news, facts, streaming video, chat and discussions. Three different SMS packages can be subscribed to through Everymobile.com in order to obtain match updates, match results and players' comments. News and information will also be available on tele-text. For further information, please visit www.mtg.se, send an email to info@mtg.se, or contact: Hans-Holger Albrecht, CEO & President +46-8-562 000 50 Matthew Hooper, Investor enquiries +44 (0) 7768 440 414 Bert Willborg, Media enquiries +46 (0) 707 27 70 22 Modern Times Group MTG AB has seven business areas: Viasat Broadcasting (free and pay TV comprising 18 television channels in eight countries), Radio (seven networks in five countries), New Media (the Everyday interactive TV portal, Internet portal, and teletext services), Publishing (financial news and media services, other magazine and book publishing), Modern Interactive (traditional home shopping, e-commerce, and logistics), SDI Media (subtitling and dubbing services), and Modern Studios (content production and film library). Modern Times Group MTG AB's class A and B shares are listed on Stockholmsbörsen (O list, symbols: MTGA and MTGB) and on the Nasdaq National Market in New York (symbol: MTGNY). ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/04/25/20010425BIT01310/bit0003.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/04/25/20010425BIT01310/bit0003.pdf