Swedish streaming company Nordic Entertainment Group has agreed to combine its Viasat Consumer satellite pay TV and broadband TV operations with Telenor Group’s Norwegian satellite TV unit Canal Digital, forming a 50-50 regional television distribution joint venture that will create a scaled, simpler and streamlined content venture in Scandinavia.
According to the companies, the JV will have combined sales of $766 million and about 1.257 million subscribers. The combined company will be headquartered in Stockholm and Oslo and the boards of directors will have equal representations from Nordic Entertainment and Telenor, with a rotating chairmanship. Current Canal Digital CEO Bjørn Ivar Moen will be CEO of the JV, Viasat Consumer CEO Jonas Gustafsson will be CFO and head of operations. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.
“Combining Viasat Consumer and Canal Digital makes perfect sense,” Nordic Entertainment Group CEO Anders Jensen said in a press release. “We are creating a large-scale TV operator that will create sustainable value for customers and owners, and be able to compete with large scale regional and local competitors.”
