A new Nordic Media giant is born with the acquisition by Time Warner subsidiary Turner Broadcasting Europe of Scandinavian Millennium Media Group (MMG). The new power player will be majority-based in Stockholm, under the aegis of MMG founding partners CG Anderson and Ignas Scheynius.
Turner Broadcasting delivers 21 entertainment channels in 17 languages across the world. Its most established television brands are CNN International, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies and Boomerang. Created in 1998, MMG controls four operative subsidiaries: NonStop Television (itself operating 13 niche TV channels such as movie channel Silver), Scandinavian film distributor NonStop Entertainment, the sales company NonStop Sales and leading Scandinavian subtitling company Prime Text International. The TV subscription base for the combined Turner Broadcasting and MMG television portfolio counts over 20 million people in the Nordic region.
By acquiring MMG, Turner intends to invest in the core Nordic channels in terms of content and marketing and to introduce its own TNT brand in the Nordic region. The Time Warner subsidiary also wants to help MMG increase its investment in emerging markets such as the Baltic countries and Africa. "Turner has brands, content and know how that can only improve the services we provide," commented MMG co-founder Anderson. The merger still needs approval from the Swedish media regulator RTW and the Norwegian competition authorities before finalisation.