The Russian cable operator Akado has withdrawn eight Viasat channels from its offer.
AKTR and TV-digest report that this follows the failure of the two parties to reach an agreement on the terms of their distribution.
Quoting Alexei Byrdin from Viasat, they add that negotiations have been ongoing for six months and failed to resolve not only pricing but other complex issues.
Viasat has been forced to raise its prices due to the ban on advertising on thematic channels in Russia that comes into effect at the beginning of next year.
The eight channels dropped by Akado are Da Vinci Learning, Viasat Sport, Viasat Explore, Viasat Nature, Viasat History, TV1000 Action, TV 1000 Russian Cinema and TV 1000.
However, at the same time 11 of MTG’s pay-TV channels have been made available on Orion Express’ DTH platform Telecarta.
Commenting on the development, Kirill Makhnovsky, Orion Express CEO, said: “Launching the world famous MTG channels on Orion Express is fantastic for our company. We`re striving to increase the quality of our service and MTG is well known for its great content, and flawless sound and video quality. We’re certain that their many exclusive TV premieres will be in popular demanded among our many viewers.”
Irina Gofman, MTG executive VP and CEO of the Group’s Russian, CIS and Pay-TV Emerging Markets operations, added: “We’re happy to start our partnership with Orion Express, which brings almost all of our channels to the operator`s subscribers. Our channels are popular all across Russia and have earned a large, loyal following. We hope that exclusive TV premieres of the latest Russian and Hollywood movies will help to drive Orion Express’ subscriber numbers.”
