Sweden's Telia purchases Finnish TV channel MTV

Swedish telecoms company Telia decided to buy Finnish Bonnier Bonnier Broadcasting, which owns several television stations including MTV3 and C More in Finland.

Telia Company CEO Johan Dennelind in a statement termed the purchase as a natural move for the firm, reported national broadcaster Yle.

“We have a clear view on how to maintain journalistic impartiality in the future,” said Dennelind.

The broadcasting company employs about 250 people in Finland, with around 1,200 employees across Finland and Sweden.

The deal, which includes Swedish media TV4 and TV4 Play, values Bonnier Broadcasting at 888 million euros.

“We’ll be able to develop Finnish content and develop our own channels,” Nordlund said in an interview with MTV.

News agency Xinhua adds: The entry of Sweden's Telia into TV broadcasting was welcomed in Finland as the Nordic telecom operator announced Friday its purchase of Swedish group Bonnier Broadcasting, the parent company of Finnish TV channel MTV.

Some analysts expected the deal to increase the chances of survival for MTV that has been losing money for years. MTV received last year a unique 3-million-euro state subsidy in order to to be able to continue producing "quality news" as an alternative to the Finnish state owned YLE.

Jarkko Nordlund, CEO of MTV, welcomed the opportunities the change of ownership of the channel will open up. Nordlund noted that "watching television" is moving increasingly to mobile gadgets.

Both Nordlund and Telia CEO Johan Dennelind underlined the need to produce domestic content in the competition against global players such as Netflix.

Meanwhile, representatives of MTV staff unions were cautiously optimistic.

The purchase of Bonnier Broadcasting services in Sweden and Finland came only a few days after Telia had announced the purchase in Norway of the GET and TDC Norway from the Danish TDC. Telia has now mobile, fixed-line and TV operations in all seven Nordic and Baltic markets.

Commercial television started in Finland in the mid 1950s, decades before Sweden. MTV -- short of Mainostelevisio -- is the oldest commercial television company still in business in the Nordic area.