New ViaSat Sport channel

[BGonaSTICK]

International broadcaster Modern Times Group (MTG) is launching an eighth Viasat pay TV channel in central and eastern Europe.

The new Viasat Sport channel, dedicated to North American sports, was co-developed with Setanta-owned North American Sports Network (NASN), which carries sports such as baseball, ice hockey and American football in Europe. The new channel will launch in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan and the three Baltic states in November.

Viasat Sport will feature up to 24 hours a day of NASN programming, made available through cable TV packages in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as on Viasat's own satellite DTH platform in the Baltics.

Six Viasat-branded channels (TV1000 East, TV1000 Russian Kino, Viasat History, Viasat Explorer, Viasat Sport 2 and Viasat Sport 3) are included in Viasat's premium satellite pay TV packages in the Baltics, which, together with DTH channel TV1000 Balkan, attract 15.6 million subscriptions through third-party cable and satellite pay TV operators.

Amory Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of NASN, said the deal is another milestone in NASN's mission to expand throughout Europe. "Viasat is the perfect partner for NASN. Our strong content portfolio, combined with Viasat's market presence and distribution experience, will provide the new channel with the best possible platform to establish itself as a leading sports brand in these new territories," he said.