Danish quadruple play service provider YouSee has announced that it will remove all Discovery Networks-owned channels from its regular television packages at the end of the year.
YouSee, which is owned by telco TDC Group, said the decision is a strategic one after it announced partnerships with commercial broadcaster TV2, entertainment company Nordisk Film and pay-television operator C More, earlier this week.
The Discovery channels set to be removed from YouSee include Kanal 5, which broadcasts Danish national team football matches; along with Canal 9, Eurosport 1 and 2, which televise top-tier club football competition the Superligaen.
YouSee has said changing media habits are a factor in its decision, stating it is keen to give greater freedom of choice to customers when it comes to subscription offerings.
YouSee director Jacob Mortensen told the Danish news agency Ritzau: “Our most important task is to allow customers to choose exactly the content they prefer. In a rapidly changing market, it is therefore imperative that we give power back to consumers.”
In response, Discovery Networks director Christian Kemp said: “We have had a long and good relationship with YouSee. And we will continue to do so in the future, but under other conditions.
“We also live well without YouSee. The media landscape is undergoing great change, we have a number of other partners we would like to work more closely with in the future.”
Kemp added: “We will be available to viewers in Denmark no matter what – maybe just not on YouSee’s platforms.”
In 2017, Discovery was engaged in a carriage dispute in Denmark, Finland and Sweden with the telecoms group Telia. The telecoms operator announced in June 2017 that it would no longer offer Discovery’s channels to its customers in the Nordic countries but a fresh agreement was then struck by the pair.