MTG will broadcast Barclays Premier League in the three Baltic countries from the start of the 2010/11 season on 14 August, and until the end of the 2012/13 season. The rights will be made available on the Viasat Sport Baltic pay-TV channel, as well as on a new dedicated Viasat Premier League HD channel, which will be launched on Viasat’s satellite platform in the Baltics on Friday 13 August, 2010. MTG will broadcast all 380 Premier League matches each season, and will offer both local language and English commentary and a wide range of high quality Premier League related programming, including highlights, profiles, interviews and analyses.

The addition of Barclays Premier League will strengthen the Group’s Baltic premium pay-TV offering and extend its already broad sports portfolio, which currently includes UEFA Champions League, Formula One, the Ice Hockey World Championships, NHL, KHL, Euroleague basketball, ATP tennis, as well as major regional sports events. Viasat’s premium sport pay-TV channel portfolio currently comprises Viasat Sport Baltic, Viasat Hockey and Viasat Golf. Viasat’s high definition (HD) channel offering in the Baltics currently comprises the National Geographic HD and the MTVNHD channels.

MTG is the only pay-TV operator offering coverage of Barclays Premier League on a pan-Scandinavian basis. MTG acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights to Premier League in Sweden in March, and signed an agreement with TV 2 in Norway in June to include the three TV 2 Premier League HD channels on it’s satellite pay-TV platform. In July the Group also announced that its TV 2 Sport joint venture in Denmark will launch two new TV 2 Sport Premier League channels.

MTG already has the broadcasting rights to the Barclays Premier League in Bulgaria for the next three seasons.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: “The acquisition of the exclusive broadcasting rights to Barclays Premier League in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania solidifies our position as the leading pan-Baltic premium pay-TV provider with an unrivalled premium sport content offering. Premier League is one of the world’s most exciting sports rights and we are proud to be able to broadcast it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.” 

“We now offer Barclays Premier League in seven countries in Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe, on both pay-TV and free-TV channels, and we look forward to continue bringing the best in sports entertainment to our viewers.”

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For further information, please visit www.mtg.se or contact:

Hans-Holger Albrecht, President & CEO
Tel: +46 (0) 8 562 000 50 

Investor & Analyst Enquiries:
Matthew Hooper
Tel: +44 (0) 7768 440 414
Email: investor.relations@mtg.se 

Media Enquiries:
Bert Willborg
Tel: +44 (0) 791 2280 850
Email: bert.willborg@mtg.se     

Modern Times Group is a leading international entertainment broadcasting group with the largest geographical broadcast footprint in Europe. MTG's Viasat Broadcasting is the leading free-TV and pay-TV operator in Scandinavia and the Baltics, and has broadcasting operations in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine and Ghana. Viasat’s free-TV and pay-TV channels and pay-TV platforms attract a total of 125 million viewers in 31 countries. MTG is also the major shareholder in Russia’s largest independent television broadcaster (CTC Media – Nasdaq: CTCM), and the number one commercial radio operator and internet retailer of entertainment products in the Nordic region.

Modern Times Group MTG AB class A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm's Large Cap market (‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’).

The information in this announcement is that which Modern Times Group MTG AB is required to disclose under the Securities Markets Act. This information was released for publication at 08.15 CET on 09 August 2010.  

For more information on the Premier League please contact the Premier League Press Office on +44 (0)20 7864 9190 or press@premierleague.com