MTG LAUNCHES NEW FREE-TO-AIR TV CHANNEL IN SWEDEN

MTG LAUNCHES NEW FREE-TO-AIR TV CHANNEL IN SWEDEN

Stockholm
February 23, 2006
12.01 CET
Modern Times Group MTG AB, the international entertainment-broadcasting group, today announced that the Swedish Government has awarded Viasat Broadcasting a new license to broadcast an additional channel in the Swedish digital terrestrial network. The new channel – TV6 – will be a broad based entertainment channel and will be made available free of charge, on an unencrypted basis, to viewers through Sweden’s digital terrestrial network, as well as to all subscribers to the Viasat satellite TV platform and to third party cable networks. A total of 7 new digital terrestrial license awards were announced today and, with the new additions, the network has now fully utilized its current bandwidth capacity.

TV6 is expected to be launched and start broadcasting at the beginning of May. MTG’s TV3, ZTV and TV8 channels are already licensed and broadcast in the Swedish digital terrestrial network. The channels’ respective national penetration levels have gradually increased with the rapid growth of both the digital terrestrial network and Viasat’s own satellite platform. Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: “We are delighted to have received this new licence from the Government. There was considerable interest in the new frequencies and we are glad to have been selected to add a fourth Viasat channel to the digital terrestrial offering. By making the new channel available free of charge and unencrypted, we are ensuring the broadest possible availability of TV6, which is in line with our belief in the inevitable platform neutrality of Sweden’s major free-to-air channels. We will be looking to offer viewers a wide range of high quality entertainment programming, and to rapidly develop the new channel’s commercial viewing share. This greater choice is good news for viewers and good news for advertisers”. For further information, please visit www.mtg.se, email info@mtg.se, or contact: Hans-Holger Albrecht, President & CEO tel: +46 (0) 8 562 000 50 Matthew Hooper, Corporate Communications tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010 Modern Times Group is an international entertainment-broadcasting group with operations in more than 30 countries around the world. MTG is the largest Free-to-air and Pay-TV operator in Scandinavia and the Baltics, the largest shareholder in Russia´s largest independent television network, and the number one commercial radio operator in the Nordic region. The Viasat DTH satellite TV platform offers digital multi-channel TV packages of 50 own-produced and third party entertainment channels to viewers in 19 countries across Europe and Viasat TV channels now reach over 60 million people every day. Modern Times Group MTG AB class A and B shares are listed on the Stockholmsbörsen O-list under the symbols ‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’.

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