MTG prolongs exclusive media rights to UEFA Champions

Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.) (‘MTG’ or ‘the Group’), the international entertainment group, today announced that it has prolonged its exclusive live media rights to UEFA Champions League football in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, from the start of the 2015/2016 championship until the end of the 2017/2018 championship. MTG is the first broadcaster in Europe to secure the UEFA Champions League media rights for this period. The rights are platform neutral and include, but are not limited to, coverage on Free-TV, Pay-TV, mobile devices and the Internet. The rights include the annual UEFA Super Cup match in August between the winners of the previous year’s UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, from 2015 to 2018. MTG operates four free-TV channels in Sweden, two in Norway (a third free-TV channel – TV6 – will be launched on 21 November), and three in Denmark. In total, the Group offers nine premium pay-TV sports channels in Scandinavia, all of which can also be viewed in high definition. Sports content is also offered on the Viaplay online pay-TV service, which is available on internet connected devices such as personal computers, tablets, smart phones and smart TVs. MTG already holds the exclusive broadcasting rights to the UEFA Champions League until the end of the 2014/2015 season and is the only broadcaster anywhere to have had all rights through the complete history of the tournament, since the start in 1992. The championship starts in September each year, with 32 teams playing home and away legs in an eight group round robin system. The knock-out stages are then played in the next year and start with the round of 16, with the final taking place in May. The May 2013 final at Wembley Stadium in London was the first to be contested between two German clubs, with Bayern Munich defeating Borussia Dortmund 2–1. The game was watched by a global TV audience of 360 million people. The rights have been acquired via TEAM Marketing, which is UEFA’s worldwide agent for the exploitation of commercial rights to the UEFA Champions League. Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, President and CEO of MTG, commented: “The UEFA Champions League is simply the world’s number one international club football championship, and is massively popular with football fans in Scandinavia and around the world. The championship features the top players and managers of the top clubs in Europe, and is recognised as the leading competition of its type. It is therefore a great moment for us to continue to be able to bring our viewers and customers the very best in international football for what will be 26 straight years! We have built a highly successful partnership with UEFA and TEAM and look forward to building this brand and tournament further for three more years.” *** For further information, please visit www.mtg.se or contact: Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, President & Chief Executive Officer Tel:                      +46 (0) 8 562 000 50 Investors & Analysts Tel:                      +46 (0) 73 699 2714 Email:                  investor.relations@mtg.se Journalists Tel:                      +46 (0) 73 699 2709 Email:                  press@mtg.se Modern Times Group (MTG) is an international entertainment group with operations that span four continents and include free-TV, pay-TV, radio and content production businesses. MTG’s Viasat Broadcasting operates free-TV and pay-TV channels, which are available on Viasat’s own satellite platforms and third party networks, and also distributes TV content over the internet. MTG is also the largest shareholder in CTC Media, which is Russia’s leading independent television broadcaster. Modern Times Group is a growth company and generated net sales of SEK 13.3 billion in 2012. MTG’s Class A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm’s Large Cap index under the symbols ‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’. The information in this announcement is that which Modern Times Group MTG AB is required to disclose under the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. It was released for publication at 08:05 CET on 31 October 2013.