NENT, Telenor finalise joint venture

Nordic Entertainment (NENT) Group’s pay TV and broadband business Viasat Consumer and Telenor Group’s satellite pay TV broadcaster Canal Digital have combined to form joint venture company Allente.

Anders Jensen

The now finalised JV will offer TV via satellite, streaming and other services to a total of 1.2 million customers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

At its launch, Allente has 400 employees in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland and will be co-headquartered in Stockholm and Olso.

NENT Group and Telenor Group each own half of Allente, which will operate on an arm’s length basis from its parent companies as an open platform providing content from multiple providers.

NENT and Allente have also entered into a long-term agreement to make the former’s streaming service, Viaplay, available to the majority of Allente’s subscribers over time.

The JV has also been set up as a distribution partner for Viasat’s pay TV channels and its free TV channels, all of which will continue to be owned by NENT Group.

NENT Group is also expected to restructure in July as a result of the joint venture.

Anders Jensen, NENT’s president and CEO, said: “We are delighted to have closed this game-changing transaction, which will create an even more attractive customer proposition and generate substantial revenue and cost synergies.

“We are a streaming company and our new long-term distribution deal with Allente means that our Viaplay subscriber base will grow even more this year. A total of more than 2.5 million Nordic subscribers were paying for Viaplay at the end of Q1 and, with the stated ambition of 400,000 net new subscribers in 2020, we will come close to three million paying subscribers across the Nordics by the end of the year.

“With this transaction completed and the successful launch in Iceland, we look forward to further expanding Viaplay moving forward.”

The leadership team for the JV has also been confirmed, with Bjørn Ivar Moen, currently CEO of Canal Digital and Telenor Broadcast, appointed CEO.

Jonas Gustafsson, CEO of Viasat Consumer, will be chief financial officer and head of operations, while Michael Bärlin will be chief content acquisition officer.