Viasat Premium HD package to launch on MTS networks in Russia
Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.) (‘MTG’ or ‘the Group’), the international entertainment group, today announced that Viasat Broadcasting, which comprises MTG’s television broadcasting operations, will make its ‘Viasat Premium HD’ package available to Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) IPTV and digital cable subscribers in Russia in May. The ‘Viasat Premium HD’ package comprises Viasat’s two premium high definition (HD) movie channels (TV1000 Premium HD and TV1000 Megahit HD), dedicated comedy channel (TV1000 Comedy HD) and two HD documentary channels (Viasat History HD and Viasat Nature HD).
The ‘Viasat Premium HD’ package costs 400 RUB a month and will be made available to all MTS IPTV and digital cable subscribers as an optional addition to their Basic channel packages. The package will initially be made available for purchase by approximately 350,000 MTS regional subscribers in over 50 Russian cities.
TV1000 Premium HD airs first-run TV premieres of award-winning films from Hollywood studios and independent local distributors, while TV1000 Megahit HD features first-run TV premieres of the latest blockbuster titles from Hollywood and Russian studios. TV1000 Comedy HD is a dedicated comedy movie channel.
The channels primarily feature exclusive content from four major Hollywood studios: Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution (Ice Age: Continental Drift, Prometheus), Sony Pictures Television (Amazing Spiderman, Hotel Transylvania), Warner Bros (Dark Knight Rises, Dark Shadows) and NBCUniversal International Television Distribution (Anna Karenina, Bourne Legacy), with whom Viasat has signed multi-year licensing agreements to enable subscribers to access premium high-quality movies as close to their box office release dates as possible for a number of years to come.
The Viasat History HD and Viasat Nature HD channels feature a broad range of documentary programming including Medieval Dead, Myth Hunters, as well as David Attenborough’s Kingdom of Plants and Galapagos series.
Viasat’s pay-TV channel offering in Russia also comprises TV1000 East, TV1000 Russian Kino, TV1000 Action East, Viasat Explorer, Viasat History, Viasat Nature and Viasat Sport.
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.
Irina Gofman, CEO of MTG's Russian, CIS and Emerging Market pay-TV operations, commented: “It’s with great pleasure that we announce that our ‘Viasat Premium HD’ package will be available to MTS digital TV subscribers across Russia. Our high definition channels offer the latest Hollywood blockbuster movies and high quality documentaries in crystal clear HD. The two most watched pay-TV channels in Russia are our TV1000 Kino and TV1000 East channels and our pay-TV movie offering in Russia is unrivalled in terms of choice and popularity.”
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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’.
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