Telia licenses standalone OTT rights to Discovery
May 19, 2020
The European Commission has approved Telia Company’s decision to license standalone OTT rights, in Sweden and Finland, to Discovery Networks.
The European Commission approved the acquisition of TV4, C More and MTV on November 12th, 2019 enabling Telia Company to proceed in the Nordics with its strategy of creating convergence that can meet customers’ demands for high quality connectivity, reliable streaming and great content.
During the European Commission’s approval process of the acquisition, Telia Company offered a commitment to license standalone OTT rights to one other market player in each of Sweden and Finland, respectively.
In line with that commitment, Telia Company decided to license standalone OTT rights, in Sweden and Finland, to Discovery Networks. The European Commission has now approved the licensee.
“We have run a process to license our OTT rights with several players, fully in line with the commitments,” advises Allison Kirkby, President and CEO of Telia Company. “Today’s approval means that we can continue to move forward and realise the advantages for our customers of combining our leading mobile and fixed networks with the most successful commercial media house in the Nordics. And, I’m happy to be able to announce to Discovery Network’s customers that they can now have access to the best Nordic OTT content from TV4, C More and MTV,”
The decision means that Discovery Networks will distribute TV4 Media’s linear channels (TV4, Sjuan, TV 12, TV4 Fakta, TV4 Guld, TV4 Film, Sportkanalen, C More Hockey, C More Fotboll, C More Golf, C More Sport, C More Live 1-5), as well as MTV´s linear channels (MTV3, Sub, AVA, C More Juniori, C More Max, C More Sport 1, C More Sport 2) and Telia´s Liiga channel package over the open Internet, without the need for a traditional TV subscription.
TV4 Play is already available to everyone with a handset, tablet or computer and will continue to be so in the future.