The stand off between Com Hem Group and Discovery Networks has ended.
The Swedish cablenet has signed an agreement that will return Kanal 5, Kanal 9, Eurosport and Discovery itself to around 2 million Swedish households on Com Hem itself and the terrestrial service Boxer.
The longest such dispute over the amount of money Com Hem should pay to distribute the channels had resulted in complaints to local competition authorities, the cablenet accused of abuse of power.
“We apologise to our customers for having suffered from our and Discovery’s inability to agree and we thank them for the patience they showed during this time. It was the first time during Com Hem’s more than 30 years of history we encountered such a conflict. Of course, we will do our best to prevent a similar situation from happening again, and we are pleased that we have now reached a solution that is good for our customers,” said Anders Nilsson, CEO, Com Hem.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Com Hem/Boxer in the last few hours,” saidsays Henriette Zeuchner, CEO, Discovery Networks Sweden. “This agreement is good for us, for the Swedish content industry and for Com Hem / Boxer – but above all it’s good for viewers.”
It’s anticipated the channels will return early on Thursday.
