Viasat Broadcasting appoints new COO of Pay-TV Emerging Markets
Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.) (‘MTG’ or ‘the Group’), the international entertainment broadcasting group, today announced that Viasat Broadcasting, which comprises MTG’s television broadcasting operations, has appointed Aleks Habdank as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its Pay-TV Emerging Markets operations with effect from 7 May 2013. Aleks will be based in London and manage Viasat Broadcasting’s pay-TV channel operations in Central and Eastern Europe, and develop its pay-TV business in the Emerging Markets. Aleks will report to Irina Gofman, CEO of MTG's Russian, CIS and Emerging Market pay-TV operations and support her on the operations within her business area.
Viasat’s Emerging Market pay-TV operations market and sell pay-TV packages on the Viasat satellite platforms in the Baltics and Ukraine, and on the joint venture Raduga TV satellite platform in Russia. Viasat also distributes 35 channels via third party pay-TV networks to subscribers in 31 countries across Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and the United States. The wholesale channel business has over 85 million mini-pay TV subscriptions across these territories. The Viaplay online pay-TV service was launched in Russia in March 2012, and has also recently been made available to Viasat’s Ukrainian satellite customers.
Aleks joins Viasat Broadcasting from Virgin Media in the UK, where he was most recently Director of Digital Entertainment Products, with responsibility for the TiVo, linear TV, Video On Demand, online and multiscreen services, including the launch of Virgin Movies and Virgin TV Anywhere. Aleks was previously General Manager of Chello On Demand, which was part of Liberty Global’s Chellomedia content division. Aleks has also worked for ntl (cable communications) and Zone Vision Group (broadcaster) and is a Board Director of CTAM Europe (Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing).
Irina Gofman, CEO of MTG's Russian, CIS and Emerging Market pay-TV operations, commented: “We are very happy to have Aleks on board. His strong digital background and intimate knowledge of the Eastern European and international markets makes him the perfect candidate to develop our ever-increasing portfolio of pay-TV channels, and to grow our satellite and online pay-TV subscriber bases across our territories.”
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For further information contact:
Per Lorentz
m: +46 (0) 73 699 27 09
e: press@mtg.se
Nils Gjerstad
m: +44 (0) 7834 215 306
e: press@mtg.se
Modern Times Group (MTG) is an international entertainment broadcasting group with operations that span four continents and include free-TV, pay-TV, radio and content production businesses. MTG’s Viasat Broadcasting operates free-TV and pay-TV channels, which are available on Viasat’s own satellite platforms and third party networks, and also distributes TV content over the internet. MTG is also the largest shareholder in CTC Media, which is Russia’s leading independent television broadcaster. Please visit www.mtg.se for more information.
Modern Times Group is a growth company and generated net sales of SEK 13.3 billion in 2012. MTG’s Class A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm’s Large Cap index under the symbols ‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’.