Canal Digital signs agreement regarding digital terrestrial television in Finland
The pay-TV company CANAL+ and the television distribution company Canal Digital have, together with their Finnish subsidiaries and the Finnish digital terrestrial network operator Digita OY, entered into an agreement which will give the viewers pay-TV content in Finland's digital terrestrial television network. CANAL+ will provide its three television channels: CANAL+, CANAL+ Gul and CANAL+ Blå.
Finland's digital terrestrial television (DTT) was launched in the autumn of 2001. So far, only non-pay channels have been provided. The distribution of pay-TV channels presupposes an access control system and sales and marketing operations, among other things. This will be the responsibility of Canal Digital. Canal Digital is currently responsible for the same functions in satellite distribution and in the cable-TV market in the Nordic countries.
Finland's digital terrestrial television has developed rapidly. Today, around 300,000 Finnish households have obtained a decoder which gives access to the digital terrestrial network. It is expected that the Finnish digital terrestrial television will quickly become a major distribution channel for both television and other digital services.
"The launching of the digital terrestrial television network in Finland is important for CANAL+ as well as for digital television distribution in the country as such. We in CANAL+ are delighted to be able to further develop our partnership with Canal Digital - it is a reflection of the excellent relationship between our two companies. We believe that digital terrestrial television will be greatly advantageous to a new generation of subscribers", says Marc-Antoine d'Halluin, CEO of CANAL+ in the Nordic region.
"To be a pay-TV operator on the DTT platform as well is a milestone for Canal Digital. We will utilise the technology developed for customer management systems on the satellite platform. As the leading television distribution company in the Nordic countries, this is a natural development of Canal Digital's operations", says Christian Albech, CEO of Canal Digital AS.
For further information, please contact:
Taina Malةn, PR and information manager, CANAL+, tel: +46 8 459 28 65
Ingrid Schiefloe, Corporate PR manager, Canal Digital AS, tel: +47 951 56 977
Ingrid.schiefloe@canaldigital.no
About Canal +
CANAL+ Television AB is the leading pay-TV company in the Nordic region (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark). There are around 700,000 household subscribers in the Nordic countries. The company provides three channels (CANAL+, CANAL+ GUL and CANAL+ BLØ ) to the subscribers. CANAL+ programmes are distributed by satellite and cable as well as by digital terrestrial network in Sweden - and now also in Finland. CANAL+ offers television premieres, without commercial breaks, of a number of popular films. In the spring, CANAL+ will, for example, show Lilja-4-ever, About a Boy, Minority Report, Kopps and part two of Lord of the Rings. CANAL+ will also show Premier League and the Italian "Serie A" soccer as well as the National Hockey League and the Swedish "Elitserien". Series which have received raving reviews and a number of prices, such as Six Feet Under, Shield and South Park, have also been introduced by CANAL+, as have the latest documentaries.
About Canal Digital
Canal Digital is the leading television distribution company in the Nordic countries and a wholly owned subsidiary of Telenor. Telenor's entire television distribution, by cable, satellite, smaller independent cable networks and now also digital terrestrial television in Finland, has been joined in one common organisation. More than 2.6 million Nordic households receive, directly or indirectly, television signals from Canal Digital, which has annual sales of around NOK 3.5 billion. Canal Digital distributes 80 television channels and 20 music channels in addition to games and interactive services. Canal Digital has subsidiaries in all the Nordic countries.