Viasat Broadcasting’s first success was extending a multi-year license agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution for premium and library movie rights in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

   Under the agreement, Viasat Broadcasting will have what is known as “2nd-pay television window” rights for Twentieth Century Fox film content. The agreement also includes many of Fox’s library films and provides for catch-up rights to linear broadcasts on the Viasat Film thematic premium pay-TV channels in the Nordic region, which are available on its satellite pay-TV platform, IPTV and cable TV networks.

   MTG President and CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht said the catch-up service would also be available through Viasat Broadcasting’s set-top-boxes. “Movie lovers want the choice of how, when and where they want to watch their movies, which is why we have secured linear, catch-up and online rights. Fox has a fantastic track record of creating massively popular movies that our customers can take pleasure from in years to come.’

   Viasat Broadcasting also renewed two separate licensing agreements with NBCUniversal International Television Distribution for free-TV and pay-TV rights to NBCUniversal content.

   The first licensing agreement with NBCUniversal International Television Distribution is for exclusive free-TV rights in Sweden, Norway and Denmark to a broad range of current and library feature films, as well as scripted and unscripted television series. Viasat Broadcasting entered the agreement in partnership with the public service TV broadcasters SVT in Sweden, NRK in Norway and DR in Denmark.

   Viasat Broadcasting’s second licensing agreement with NBCUniversal International Television Distribution is for the exclusive pay-TV and subscription video-on-demand rights in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland for current and library feature films. The NBCUniversal titles will be made available on the premium pay-TV Viasat Film channels, as well as on the Viaplay on-demand online subscription pay-TV service.

   “The deals [with NBCUniversal] strengthen our competitive positions on both the free-TV and pay-TV sides, and will bolster our schedules significantly,” said Albrecht. “Our free-TV channels and linear and online pay-TV offerings are watched by people across the whole of the Nordic region, and it’s content like this that allows us to continue to attract and retain viewers to our channels and brands.”

   Viasat Broadcasting scored content rights in its own region, as well. The broadcaster extended a multi-year license agreement with Nordisk Film for exclusive first-run and library title movies on pay-TV platforms in Scandinavia. MTG itself acquired exclusive rights for free-TV, first-run and library title movies in Sweden and library titles in Denmark.

   “Nordisk Film has some of the strongest box office successes in the Nordic region and we’re proud to show them on Viasat Film and Viaplay, as well as strengthening the movie offering on our free-TV channels in Sweden and Denmark,” said Albrecht.

Finally, Viasat Broadcasting prolonged its multi-year licensing agreement for exclusive pay-TV rights from AB Svensk Filmindustri (SF Film) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland to show SF Film produced and co-produced Nordic feature films. The agreement covers local first-run feature titles and library feature films and includes exclusive online and mobile rights.

   Albrecht said SF Film’s library titles include some of the best-known films in Scandinavian cinematic history.

   “Svensk Filmindustri is Sweden’s biggest movie producer with a strong track record of producing the highest grossing local titles in the Nordic region, as well as having the country’s largest portfolio of Nordic language films,” said Albrecht. “We are very pleased to extend our agreement with SF Film so we can offer the strongest local Nordic titles available on both the satellite and online platform, so our viewers can choose how, when and where they want to watch their movies.”