Sweden’s two leading entertainment channels are to be made available side by side on satellite and IPTV for the first time, giving all Swedish multichannel viewers access to the Big Five channels.
Viasat Broadcasting took the lead with an announcement that it had signed an agreement with rival Canal Digital in Sweden to include Kanal 5 on Viasat’s satellite and IPTV platforms and for TV3 to be offered to Canal Digital subscribers.The SBS-owned Kanal 5 has previously held an exclusive distribution agreement with Canal Digital and the same has been the case for TV Norge in Norway and latterly the Danish Kanal 5.
The channels will be available to subscribers from February 13 and the agreement will run through until the end of 2015. TV8 will also continue to have distribution on Canal Digital until the end of 2009. Viasat will include Kanal 5 in its Entertainment package, available to customers subscribing to at least two of its interest packages, while TV3 will be included in Canal Digital’s Family package.
In October, parent companies Modern Times Group and Telenor signed a non-exclusivity agreement under which the big five channels in Norway would no longer be exclusively held by either of the two DTH satellite platforms.