Viasat wins the Olympics

Viasat has acquired TV rights to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and the 2016 Olympic Games for the Baltics.

The Modern Times Group-backed channel operator will have ‘first pick’ for each Baltic country to show one discipline from each of Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 exclusively on its commercial free-TV channels in each of the Baltic countries. Viasat also has exclusive pay TV and online rights to both Games in the Baltics. MTG brokered the deal through rights agency Sportfive International.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, president and CEO of MTG, commented: “This is a major step for us and follows our acquisition of the exclusive Swedish broadcasting rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games last year. Our range of channels and services across multiple distribution platforms will ensure that the Games get more coverage than ever before in the Baltics – this is the first time in Olympic history that viewers will be able to see live TV coverage of all events on a pay TV platform.”