TV 2, Altibox | TV 2 breaks off negotiations with Altibox

TV 2 has informed Altibox that they are concluding negotiations on a new distribution agreement. Today’s agreement expires on March 31. TV 2 says there is no longer a basis for a new agreement. They announce this in a short press release.

Altibox has around 530,000 TV subscribers, in which case TV 2’s linear channels will be lost from 1 April.

TV 2 says the content will still be available through their own streaming service, which requires a separate subscription. The TV 2 app itself will still be available on Altibox’s TV box.

Disagree on the future

Editor-in-chief and CEO of TV 2, Olav T. Sandnes, says in the message that he apologizes to the viewers who no longer get TV 2’s linear channels through Altibox. He also states that there is no basis for a new agreement.

– A partnership presupposes an agreement that works for both parties. Through negotiations over a longer period of time, it has become clear that Altibox wants a completely different model than what TV 2 has offered, and which differs significantly from what TV 2 has agreed with the other distributors in the market, says Sandnes.

Altibox: – We are surprised

Andreas Veggeland, head of communications at Altibox, tells Nettavisen that they are surprised by the plot of TV 2:

– We at Altibox are a little surprised by this, and for us it appears as a planned PR show from TV 2. They had a meeting with us today, and send out a press release 10 minutes later, he says.

– We are very ready to try to reach an agreement with TV 2, we always have that with content providers, and we have previously experienced that is a wish from TV 2.

– What is the conflict about?

– In general, we are concerned that our customers are given the freedom to see what they want to see, and not pay for what they do not want to see, he says.

Previous conflicts have largely been about TV 2 wanting to sell its entire program offer, not just individual channels.

– We hope to reach an agreement with TV 2, but we can not force anyone who does not want an agreement. We are quite calm for this. We have previously seen that when TV 2 has negotiated, it has been quite conflicting, and then they have ended up with an agreement anyway, he says.

Recent protracted conflict

TV 2 has recently been through a long conflict with Telenor. Around 550,000 customers were without TV 2’s channels for about a month and a half in December and January after the two companies did not agree on a new agreement.

Also read: Fear of the consequences of the Telenor conflict: – Important for us to survive

TV 2’s channels were also unavailable to Telia’s customers for a longer period last spring.

Also read: Telia can save millions on TV blocking: – Cursed provocative

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