MTG Acquires Online Networking Site

STOCKHOLM, January 9: Modern Times Group’s MTG New Media
division has reached a deal to acquire 90 percent of Playahead, an online
social networking community, for SEK 102 million ($14.5 million).

Playahead is Sweden’s second-largest Internet community,
with more than 530,000 members. It was established in Sweden in 2002 by Leif
Carlsson and Jonas Frost, and new sites were launched in Denmark, Norway and
the U.K. last year. Users are primarily urban 14- to 25-year-olds who spend an
average of 45 minutes per session on the Playahead site. Last year, Playahead
members sent 220 million messages and uploaded 13 million photos. The site
attracted in excess of 620 million page impressions in December 2006. Revenues
are generated by subscription fees, advertising and merchandise sales.

Commenting on the deal, Hans-Holger Albrecht, the president
and CEO of MTG, noted, “Playahead is one of the most popular, creative and
exciting online community brands in Scandinavia, and is a favorite destination
for the young people who watch our channels, listen to our stations, and buy
products and services through our existing wide range of sites. This
acquisition demonstrates our commitment to extending our online presence by
offering the very best in online entertainment. We will build on the success,
appeal and functionality of the site, in order to continue to grow the
community, further enhance the experience, and make full use of new applications.”

Albrecht continued, “Scandinavia’s high Internet and
broadband penetration levels provide the perfect environment for the
proliferation of user-generated video and audio content, as well as a full
range of live chat, email, streaming and blogs. Playahead not only gives us the
opportunity to reach out to more of our target audience group, but also enables
us to build on a well-developed and diversified Internet platform, which has
proven to be scalable in terms of expansion into new territories and market
segments. This development is further evidence of the work that our dedicated
New Media team is doing to leverage our extensive online sports, entertainment,
gaming and retailing properties, and to promote our brands and services across
multiple broadcast platforms.”