October 7, 1997 12:00AM PT

Playboy in Scandi via ViaSat

Playboy Entertainment Group has launched a channel in Scandinavia through ViaSat, a direct-to-home service owned and operated by the Modern Times Group in Stockholm. The deal was sealed during last week’s Mipcom TV trade show in Cannes.

Playboy TV/Scandinavia, which premiered Oct. 1, airs nightly on ViaSat from midnight to 4 a.m. in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

As part of the arrangement, Playboy will provide MTG with 150 hours of new programming per year. Playboy will also provide MTG with an additional package of 20 originally produced feature films per year over the next three years for transmission on services other than PBTV/S.

“ViaSat is the latest in a line of multichannel platforms that have chosen to capitalize on the Playboy brand to bring recognition and quality to new programming packages,” said Playboy Entertainment Group president Tony Lynn.

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