STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 21, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Modern Times Group MTG AB (Nasdaq:MTGNY), the international media group, today announced that TV3 has grown its share of viewing in the national universe from 17.4% in 2001 to a record 23.6% at the end of October this year, consolidating its position as the largest commercial channel in Estonia. Furthermore, commercial share of viewing in the 15-49 year-old target group has continued to show exceptionally impressive growth from 30.7% to 51.5% for the same period.
TV3 aired three of Estonia's most watched programmes last month, two of which were own-produced 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' and hit reality-TV format, 'Survivor'. 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' reached 26.9% of viewers in the 15-49 year-old target age group, marking the first time that a commercial channel's own production has taken the number one position in Estonia from state-owned ETV.
Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: "TV3 has been a success story in the Baltic countries from the start. It has been the largest commercial TV channel in Estonia since March 1998 and is the primary challenger in both Latvia and Lithuania. The programming schedule for the Fall has been extremely popular, and the channel's ratings continue to go from strength to strength as a result of this."
For further information, please visit www.mtg.se, email info@mtg.se, or contact:
Hans-Holger Albrecht, President & CEO tel: +46 (0) 8 562 000 50
Investor & Press Enquiries tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5010
Modern Times Group is a leading vertically integrated media group withbroadcasting, production, publishing and media services businesses,operating in more than 30 countries around the world. MTG is the largestFree-TV operator in the Nordic & Baltic region, the 3rd largest DTH pay-TV operator in Europe, and has free-TV operations in Russia and Hungary.MTG is the largest commercial radio broadcaster in Northern Europe, theglobal market leader in DVD subtitling and dubbing, and a leadinginternational Reality-TV production house.
MTG's 'A' and 'B' shares are traded on the Stockholmsborsen 'O-list' andits ADRs are listed on Nasdaq.
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following files are available for download:
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/11/21/20021121BIT00820/wkr0001.doc
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/11/21/20021121BIT00820/wkr0002.pdf