Telenor Group and NENT Group to merge Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer

(Fornebu/Stockholm, 22 October 2019) Telenor Group and Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) today announced the formation of a new company that combines Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer (satellite pay-TV & broadband-TV operations). This will create a vibrant Nordic TV distribution business and capture synergies in a maturing direct-to-home (DTH) segment. Telenor and NENT Group will each hold 50 per cent of the new company.

Highlights

The combination generates a Nordic player with combined net sales of approximately NOK 7 billion and around 1.25 million subscribers (Q2 2019).
The combination is expected to yield peak annual cost synergies of approximately NOK 600 million, with full effect from 2022.
Integration and other related costs are expected to total approximately NOK 830 million.
The company will be headquartered in both Oslo and Stockholm, and will also have a substantial presence in Copenhagen. The joint venture will operate at arm’s length to its parents. The Nordic consumer offering will focus on satellite distributed pay-TV (DTH) and streaming services, as well as IPTV on open fibre networks, and will continue to develop market-leading TV distribution services.

“The joint venture will combine the respective strengths of Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer, leveraging synergies for the benefit of our customers and shareholders. There is a compelling business rationale behind combining the DTH operations of Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer, with large synergies to be captured within areas including transponder capacity, IT and opex. The joint venture will use Telenor Satellite’s services on 1° west for DTH transmission, representing a solid foundation for Telenor Satellite’s broadcast operations,” says Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, CFO, Telenor Group.

“We are very happy to announce this game-changing joint venture with Telenor. Combining Viasat Consumer and Canal Digital makes perfect sense. We are creating a large-scale TV operator that will create sustainable value for customers and owners, and be able to compete with large scale regional and local competitors. We have achieved complete alignment of ownership interest through a 50/50 joint venture structure and a shared vision for brands, products and how to provide an even better consumer experience. This deal will drive significant shareholder value and it fits perfectly with our strategy to focus on the substantial opportunity we see in the fast-growing streaming sector. The new joint venture will be a major distribution partner for both our Viasat channels and Viaplay,” says Anders Jensen, President and CEO, NENT Group.

Source: Telenor