MTG gets NHL hockey rights

Modern Times Group has acquired the exclusive distribution rights to the National Hockey League (NHL) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland from Medge Consulting.

The rights include exclusive live coverage on free-to-air TV, pay TV and the internet until the end of the 2015-16 season. Swedish viewers will be able to watch live NHL games on ice hockey pay TV channel Viasat Hockey and premium pay TV channel Viasat Sport, with selected games also shown on free TV channel TV10.

Norwegian viewers will also be able to watch live games on Viasat Hockey as well as on premium channel Viasat Sport HD, with selected games shown on Viasat 4.
In Denmark, viewers will be able to watch live matches on pay TV channel TV 2 Sport, which MTG operates together with TV 2 Denmark. Finnish viewers will be able to watch games on Viasat Hockey and the Nelonen Pro sports channels.

All of the games will also be available over the internet on MTG’s Viaplay online TV platform in each country.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, president and CEO of MTG, said: “The NHL is the most watched ice hockey league in the world and attracts large TV audiences in the Nordic region, as well as stadium audiences when the games are played here. This reflects both the popularity of the sport and the fact that a number of Nordic ice hockey stars play in the League. This is a key sports right for us and this is the first time that we have secured the rights exclusively on a multi-platform and multi-country basis.”