TV4 Group and Telenor strengthen Canal+ through Nordic co-ownership
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
(Fornebu Norway, 11 May 2010) The TV4 Group and Telenor Group today announced
that they have entered a co-ownership agreement for C More Entertainment, which
runs its premium TV operations under the Canal+ brand. Telenor will acquire 35
per cent of C More Entertainment through a share purchase and a directed new
share issue of the company's shares. Telenor has paid a cash consideration of
SEK 787 million. In addition, certain sports rights owned by Telenor, such as
SAS Ligaen and FIFA World Cup 2010 in Denmark, have been sublicensed to C More
Entertainment. The Nordic co-ownership provides Canal+ with long term access to
important content for its TV subscribers. Canal+ customers will be offered an
increased selection of top quality sports, films and series.
The TV4 Group and Telenor have enjoyed a close collaboration since TV4 Group's
acquisition of C More Entertainment. The deal presented today will enhance this
collaboration. The co-ownership agreement opens the door for new media and
telecom ventures and business opportunities, with each party offering both
knowledge and creativity.
"We are very pleased to present this deal. Telenor and TV4 Group complement each
other well and, together, we are a perfect match to develop Canal+ further" said
Erik Nord, CEO of Telenor Media and Content Services.
For Canal+ subscribers, positive changes will be felt immediately through the
launch of several exciting projects. For example, Canal+ will launch several new
premium channels in the Nordic region. As announced yesterday, Canal+ will also
expand its rights portfolio with attractive new sports rights such as the whole
Spanish La Liga with Messi and Zlatan, Italian Serie A with Riise and
Ronaldinho, the American major soccer league MSL with Beckham, world-class
tennis and the NBA professional basketball league. Canal+ will further include
the premier division of the Swedish football league and premier league ice
hockey. In addition, Canal+ has long term exclusive agreements with 6 out of 8
Hollywood studios. Canal+ subscribers can therefore continue to expect the best
premium sports, film and series content. The launch of new TV channels in Norway
and Denmark is also planned.
"Canal+ has developed very well since we acquired the company in 2008, and
reported its best ever results last year. We are now creating even better
opportunities for Canal+ to maintain its position as the Nordic region's leading
TV channel in the premium segment, and are also enlarging our offer" stated Jan
Scherman, CEO of the TV4 Group.
The Canal+ operational structure remains unchanged and the company's business
model will remain based on an operator-independent strategy. Canal+ will also
maintain its current objective of offering premium services to existing and new
subscribers in the Nordic region. The intensification of the close,
long-standing Canal+ collaboration between the TV4 Group and the Telenor Group
therefore means that all three companies will continue to run their operations
with the same market orientation towards other partners as previously. The
co-ownership agreement will not alter the control structure of C More
Entertainment. TV4 Group will remain as the company's majority owner.
To the editorial offices: Press conference
In conjunction with the announcement of the co-ownership agreement, a press
conference will be held on Tuesday, 11 May 2010 at 10:00 AM Norwegian time/CET,
at Telenor Expo Visitors' Centre at the Telenor Headquarters in Fornebu, outside
Oslo. Presentations will be given by Jan Scherman, CEO of TV4 Group, Jonas
Eriksson, CEO of C More Entertainment, Erik Nord, CEO of Telenor Media and
Content Services, and Christian Albech, CEO of Telenor Broadcast Holding.
The press conference will be broadcast live over the internet and a recorded
version will be made available
onhttp://webcast.telenorexpo.no/easystream/event/eventlist/default.cfm?page=1&co
ntactid=1015&contactguid=677DCCB7-CC9E-4F74-86E1-2854DD8B4D19&eventid=1071&event
guid=FEB3DA08-EFC3-49E0-82A4-DAC04C193F9E.
For further information, please contact:
Gunnar Gidefeldt, Director of Communications, TV4 Group
Telephone: +46 70 54 67 444
Scott Engebrigtsen, Communication Manager, Telenor Group
Telephone: + 47 90 04 34 84
C More Entertainment
C More Entertainment is the Nordic region's leading premium pay TV company, with
operations in the four Nordic countries: Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.
Its 14 channels of premium films, series and sports are enjoyed by over one
million Nordic household.. In addition to its linear TV offering, Canal+ offers
pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, online and through various
distributors. In 2009, C More Entertainment reported revenues of SEK 1,6 billion
and EBITDA of SEK 111 million before restructuring costs.
Telenor Group
The Telenor Group is an international provider of high quality tele, data and
media communication services with mobile operations in 13 markets across the
Nordic region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia. Headquartered in Norway,
the Telenor Group is among the largest mobile operators in the world with 179
million mobile subscriptions (per Q1 2010), revenues in 2009 of NOK 107 billion,
and a workforce of more than 45,000. Telenor is listed on the Oslo Stock
Exchange (TEL).
TV4 Group
The TV4 Group has delivered engaging news, grand entertainment of great variety
and quality, live sport and top-class drama to Swedish viewers for two decades.
In addition to the main channel TV4, the group's portfolio includes over 30 TV
channels in the Nordic region - in the free-TV, mini-pay and premium segments -
and 25 local stations in Sweden, as well as a wide range of web and mobile sites
and on demand services. For more information, visit tv4group.se.
[HUG#1414538]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 11.05.2010 - 08:03 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 20643
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"TV4 Group and Telenor strengthen Canal+ through Nordic co-ownership"
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