‘Best of British’ VOD Platform Heads to Finland

LONDON: The VOD platform Cirkus, delivering a slate of British content, has entered into a pact with Scandi telco giant TeliaSonera that will bring it to Finland later this year and expand its presence in Sweden in early 2015.

The Finland launch will take place this fall. By early 2015, Cirkus will be distributed on Sweden's three largest pay-TV platforms, TeliaSonera, Com Hem and Boxer.

"Audiences in both Finland and Sweden have taken English TV series to their hearts," said Johanna Berlinde, the head of TV and entertainment at TeliaSonera. "Series like Midsomer Murders, The Crimson Field and Sherlock, just to mention a few, are greatly appreciated. Cirkus will surely make TeliaSonera's already strong TV offer even stronger."

ITV recently picked up a minority stake in Cirkus, which was founded by Mark Bradford and Hugh Williams. Its lineup includes Endeavour, Poirot, Peaky Blinders, The Crimson Field and George Gently, among others. Bradford and Williams commented: "Our deal with TeliaSonera is a very important milestone for Cirkus, consolidating our position as one of the leading on-demand services in Sweden and extending our service more broadly into the Nordics. The U.K. produces some of the best television in the world and we are proud to be leading the way in finding new markets for it."