Modern Times Group (MTG) is to buy 100% of the Latvian free-TV broadcaster LNT for an undisclosed fee.
Given that MTG already operates the free-TV operations (TV3, 3+ and TV6) in the country, the deal, which still requires the approval of the Latvian Competition Council, will make the company the undisputed market leader in Latvia’s free-TV sector.
The LNT group was established in 1996 by the merger of Picca TV and NTV5 and currently consists of the national channel LNT, Russian language channel TV5 and entertainment channel LMK.
MTG’s closest competitor since the latter entered the Latvian market 14 years ago, it had revenues of less than €7 million and an EBITDA loss in the first nine months of 2011.
LNT’s previous owners have included Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the leading Polish commercial broadcaster Polsat.
