MTG Completes DTV Sale

MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM, April
17: CTC Media has concluded its $395-million acquisition of the Russian free-TV
network DTV from the Modern Times Group.

“We are excited with the
opportunity to immediately start integrating DTV into CTC Media,” said
Alexander Rodnyansky, the CEO of CTC Media. “We hope that this will allow us to
re-launch the renewed DTV channel by the start of the fall TV season.”

Under the terms of the
deal, CTC Media will pay $190 million from its current cash balances. The
balance is expected to be paid from the proceeds of commercial debt financing
by the end of the second quarter 2008.

Based in Moscow, DTV was
acquired in 2001 by MTG. As of February 2008, DTV’s signal reached 60 percent
of TNS Gallup-measured households nationwide. The channel is distributed
through 28 owned-and-operated local TV stations in larger Russian cities and a
number of affiliates. DTV’s average overall 4-plus audience share in 2007 was
1.9 percent.

—By Mansha Daswani