Telenor and TV4 strike last-minute carriage deal

Telenor and Swedish broadcaster TV4 Group have struck a last minute agreement over carriage terms for the latter’s channels on the Canal Digital platform.

The pair had been locked in one of the carriage terms dispute that are becoming an increasingly common feature of the pay TV landscape as broadcasters seek to gain additional revenues to compensate a long-term threat to advertising while operators seek to squeeze suppliers to improve their own margins.

Mathias Berg

TV4 Group had said that Telenor had attempted to reduce the amount it paid for the carriage of the former’s channels, despite the growing audience share enjoyed by the channels.

TV4 Group operations chief Mathias Berg had earlier said that viewers would continue to be able to access TV4’s services, including its catch-up offerings, via the C More OTT TV app, with two weeks’ viewing offered free of charge. The free channels are also available via the TV4 Play service.

TV4 offers free channels including TV4, Sjuan and TV12 along with multichannel services TV4 Fakta, TV4 Film and TV4 Gold.

Berg said he was “pleased that Telenor came back to the negotiating table” and that the pair were able to find agreement . the deal means that Canal Digital and Bredbandsgolaget’s 850,000 customers will continue to be able to watch the six channels.