Bonnier, MTG laud ‘historic’ sports tie-up

Swedish media group Bonnier Broadcasting and multi-territory commercial and pay-television broadcaster Modern Times Group have hailed a new carriage deal that will see the former’s C More pay-television channels carried by the latter’s pay-television operator, Viasat, for the first time.

C More’s sports channels will begin to be offered through Viasat from the first quarter of 2018, while the deal also includes transmission of Bonnier’s TV4 channels.

Sportkanalen, the new sports channel that was launched last month by C More, will also be offered from January 1.

Sportkanalen broadcasts content from the SHL and Allsvenskan, the top divisions of Swedish ice hockey and football respectively, while it last month acquired rights to North American basketball league the NBA.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Bonnier Broadcasting chief executive Casten Almqvist described the agreement as “historic” and “groundbreaking” for the Swedish media market.