A predictable war of words has broken out between Telia and Com Hem after TV4 and the C More suite of premium channels were pulled from the cablenet.
Com Hem accused the channel’s new owners Telia of wanting to “duck negotiations” after it offered to maintain their distribution over the Christmas holiday period in a letter to Com Hems CEO Anders Nilsson.
“Christmas with Ernst, Uppesittarkväll and Nyhetsmorgon are part of Sweden’s Christmas traditions and TV4 wants to avoid this initiative because commercial disagreements destroy the Christmas peace for millions of Swedes, says Mathias Berg, operations manager TV4 and C More.
“We have to work hard against hard to get Telia to the negotiating table, and it is regrettable that customers are affected in the short term,” said Com Hem in a statement. “Our hope is that the short-term removal will help us secure customers’ long-term access to TV4 for all Christmases to come.”
The operator insisted that it was not a matter of price and the two parties had not got so far as to discuss the matter.
Com Hem says it had wanted to negotiate for the past six months – since the telco bought the TV channel – but there has been no face to face meeting.
