Telenor, Nordic Entertainment Merge Viasat Consumer and Canal Digital

A Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (TSBc) facility. Photo: Skyline Communications

Telenor Group and Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) today announced the formation of a new company that combines Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer (satellite pay-TV and broadband-TV operations). This will create a Nordic TV distribution business in a maturing Direct-to-Home (DTH) segment. Telenor and NENT Group will each hold 50 percent of the new company.

The company will be headquartered in both Oslo and Stockholm, and will also have a presence in Copenhagen. The Nordic consumer offering will focus on satellite distributed pay-TV (DTH) and streaming services, as well as IPTV on open fiber networks, and will continue to develop market-leading TV distribution services.

“The joint venture will combine the respective strengths of Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer, leveraging synergies for the benefit of our customers and shareholders. There is a compelling business rationale behind combining the DTH operations of Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer, with large synergies to be captured within areas including transponder capacity, IT and opex. The joint venture will use Telenor Satellite’s services on 1° west for DTH transmission, representing a solid foundation for Telenor Satellite’s broadcast operations,” says Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, CFO, Telenor Group.