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Viasat makes its play

Viasat Broadcasting’s Jakob Mejlhede tells Jesse Whittock about the keenly fought battle over Nordic VoD, the firm’s content strategy and funding premium pay-TV drama.

Jakob Mejlhede

Jakob Mejlhede

This year has been one of the busiest in Viasat Broadcasting’s history, says its senior VP of acquisitions and programming Jakob Mejlhede. He’s certainly had his hands full, taking on Camilla Hammer’s centralised acquisitions and development duties after she left in December for a short-lived spell at Shine International.

Working out of Modern Times Group (MTG)-owned Viasat’s London headquarters, he oversees all aspects of programming for the broadcaster’s free- and pay-TV channels across 35 countries, mainly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Viasat has built its reputation on strong free-to-air and pay-TV offerings, one element of which is the acquisition of both Hollywood and European feature films. In September, it renewed its deals with NBCUniversal International, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Nordisk Film and SF Film for Scandinavian rights.

“We know there’s huge value in having these local Scandinavian features added together with Hollywood blockbusters; it really is a very strong selling point for our customers. We want to have the strongest Scandinavian line-up and these deals show we are unmatched by any competition,” he says.

The agreements give Viasat a pipeline of premium content, which will run across platforms, including its multi-screen on-demand platform Viaplay, launched a year ago. The service is notable because the region’s VoD market is emerging as one of the most hotly contested in global programming, with the likes of Amazon-owned LoveFilm and indie platform Voddler already there, Netflix completing its Nordic roll-out last month, and HBO Nordic and TV4 Group set to launch services.

“We are, of course, fully aware HBO and Netflix are launching,” says Mejlhede. “It’s going to be interesting to see what happens, but when the viewers dig into the content we actually have on Viaplay, it’s by any comparison completely outstanding. We have tons of exclusive movies and sport, our best original productions and a library that’s significantly bigger than our competitors’.” Furthermore, last month MTG increased the availability of Viaplay by launching a ‘Download-to-go’ service for Apple iOS devices and rolling out on the Sony PlayStation 3.

Project Runway Sweden

Project Runway Sweden

And what impact has Voddler, which launched last year, had on Viaplay? “None whatsoever,” he claims.

Viaplay, similar to US cable initiative TV Everywhere, is searching for “a high amount of premium and exclusive content,” says Mejlhede. “Whereas other services are built around libraries, we want an offering that more matches the offering on our premium channels, the Viasat film brands.”

“It’s a lucky benefit of being a multi-platform operator that we can offer exclusive content on different platforms. It is what will be driving these new services,” he continues. However, the idea that Viaplay will lead to cord-cutting – customers switching over from subscription pay-TV to over-the-top services – isn’t one that concerns Mejlhede. “There’s not any risk. In fact, Viaplay is a complement to our linear services.”

Those linear services include the flagship TV3 channels in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, which are increasingly turning to original productions, such as Project Runway Sveridge (Project Runway Sweden), the Acne Productions remake of the US model competition series that launched on October 1. Secondary channels such as Sweden’s TV6 are performing “way beyond expectations” thanks to bought-in content, adds Mejlhede.

Viasat’s London development centre is also working on constructed reality series (both in-house and acquired formats) akin to Jersey Shore and The Only Way is Essex for the flagship free-TV networks. “These are in development and there will be more on that page later,” he adds, declining to comment further at this stage.

The same goes for new makeover formats, which Viasat has been searching for this fall. Mejlhede says: “Makeover shows are still a solid genre; the whole aspirational lifestyle element is a nice break from the dire reality around the global financial crisis.”

On the pay-TV front, Viasat is experiencing an increasingly common problem: financing high-end original drama, which is becoming a key selling point for subscription TV platforms. Mejlhede says there are “a few projects with pay-TV partners” underway. It is understood UK satcaster BSkyB, HBO and France’s Canal+ are thinking along the same lines, though nothing has been unveiled and Mejlhede is keeping his cards close to his chest at this point.

“I want to find new ways to make scripted drama series,” he says. “The market and the interest from our channels are there, and definitely from our competitors too. We have to find ways around the cost structure to make scripted shows available at a more reasonable price. The Scandi levels are a little bit too high at the moment.”

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