Bonnier Gain Sublicense from Rival MTG for Danish Superliga

Nordic media group Bonnier have sublicensed from arch-rival Modern Times Group (MTG) the rights for two live matches per week from the Danish Superliga, purchase the country’s top-tier football league.

Terms of the deal Bonnier will show at least 50 matches per season on basic-tier channel Canal 9 in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 seasons. The deal is a coup for Bonnier, apoplectic as local industry observers had said that Canal 9 would struggle after it failed to win any rights for the Superliga in the initial auction concluded two weeks ago.

Canal 9 has the rights for two matches per week in the current cycle, 2009-10 to 2011-12, and they are cornerstone programming for the channel, which focuses on male audiences. Bonnier will show the remaining matches – its rights cover 66 per season – on its Canal Plus pay-television channels.

Pay-television channel TV2 Sport – which is 49-per-cent owned by MTG, and 51-per-cent owned by commercial broadcaster TV2 – has also sublicensed one match per week from MTG. TV2 Sport had already acquired the rights for two matches per week in the initial auction.

Earlier this month, MTG acquired the rights to four live matches per week. After its sublicensing deals with Bonnier and TV2 Sport, it retains the exclusive rights for only one, which it will show on basic-tier channel TV3+.