Viasat was a satellite and pay television brand, co-owned by the Swedish media group Viaplay Group in the Nordic countries, Antenna Group in Hungary, and by Viasat World internationally. Founded in Sweden in 1991, Viasat has previously been owned by Modern Times Group. The channels of both companies were broadcast from London.
In 2020, Viasat formed a joint venture with Canal Digital to form the company Allente.[1] The merger was completed on April 13, 2021.
The Viasat signals was received from the Astra 4A and SES-5 satellites at 4.8°E with any DVB-S receiver equipped with a NDS VideoGuard descrambling module. Viasat does not have a platform of their own outside the Nordic and Baltic countries, so they have to rely on third party distributors in Eastern and Central Europe.[citation needed]
In May 2016, MTG announced the launch of Viasat Ultra HD, the first ultra-high-definition television (UHD) channel in the Nordic region and its first UHD Sports channel. The channel will feature selected live sport events especially produced in Ultra HD and launch in the autumn in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland via SES-5. Viasat will also be launching an Ultra HD set-top box from Samsung and a TV-module to enable existing UHD TVs to display the channel.[2]
The Nordic Viasat-branded operations are owned by Viaplay Group. The brand is no longer used for the advertising-funded and free-to-air channels of Viaplay Group.
V Film and V Series channels are common for the four Nordic markets.
The available sports television channels differ across the Nordic markets due to the varying broadcasting rights. In Denmark most of the Viaplay-owned sports channels use the brand TV3 (TV3 Sport and TV3 Max).
Pay channels (owned by Viasat World):
Pay channels in Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus and Moldova (owned by Viasat Russia):
Owned by Antenna Group.
Pay channels:
In addition to their own channels, Viasat carry several third-party channels on their platform.
Sweden:
Denmark:
Norway:
Slovakia:
Lithuania:
The live 3D broadcast of the 2011 UEFA Champions League final match between Manchester United and Barcelona was provided by Viasat in 3D format in Gothenburg (Sweden).[3] The football match was broadcast on EKTA screen. This Ukrainian produced 3D LED TV made The Guinness Book of World Records.[4][5]