Modern Times Group (MTG) is a digital entertainment company based in Stockholm, Sweden. It formed from the media holdings of investment company Kinnevik, which in 1997 was distributed to the company stockholders. It is a strategic and operational investment holding company, managing a portfolio including gaming companies InnoGames, Ninja Kiwi and Kongregate, and digital network company Zoomin.TV.
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.
Latvijas Televīzija is the state-owned public service television broadcaster in Latvia. LTV operates two channels, LTV1 in Latvian and LTV7 in Latvian with selected programming in Russian.
TV6 is a Lithuanian terrestrial, satellite and cable television channel owned by the media company TV3 Group. It was launched on March 31, 2002.
Television in Latvia was first tested in 1937 and introduced in 1954. Latvia was the first country in the Baltic States which started broadcasting.
TV3 Lithuania is a Lithuanian free-to-air television channel that was launched on 11 April 1993. It was owned by Modern Times Group (MTG) until 2017, when it was acquired by Providence Equity Partners for €115 million.
Latvian Independent Television was a major private television company in Latvia, founded in 1996. LNT featured TV series, news and entertainment programmes, airing 24 hours a day in Latvian. It went off the air on March 1, 2020, and was replaced by TV3 Life.
TV3 is a commercial television channel targeted at an Estonian language audience owned by Providence Equity Partners.
TV3 Latvia is a Latvian commercial television channel targeted at a Latvian language audience owned by All Media Baltics, a company owned by investment firm Providence Equity Partners.
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš is a Latvian politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economics and a Member of the European Parliament. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, to parents who had left Latvia during the Soviet occupation, he was active in the American Latvian community throughout his youth.
TV6 Latvia is an entertainment television channel broadcasting to Latvia featuring series, music, fashion and sports. It was launched on April 22, 2007. The programmes broadcast on the channel include The Simpsons, United States of Tara, Las Vegas, Harper's Island, American Idol, Survivor, My name is Earl, Family Guy, Shark, CSI: Miami, The Office, Sex and the City and more.
Latvia is one of the three post-Soviet Baltic states having regained independence in 1991 and since 2004 is a member State of the European Union. After its independence there have been fundamental changes of political, economic and social nature that have turned Latvia into a democratic country with a free market economy. This reflects on the mass media landscape which is considered well-developed despite being subjected to a limited market and a linguistic and cultural split between Latvian (58.2%) and Russian speakers (37.5%). In 2017 Freedom House defined Latvia's press freedom status as “free", assigning to the country's press freedom a score of 26/100. The 2017 World Press Freedom Index prepared annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) states that media in Latvia have a "two-speed freedom", underlying different levels of freedom for Latvian-language and Russian-language media. According to RSF's Index the country is ranked 28th among 180 countries.
Viju TV1000 Russkoe is a television channel broadcasting Russian language movies owned by Viasat Russia. The channel is available in Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States
Go3 Sport is a group of sports television channels available in the Baltic States. The channel was launched 7 January 2009 as Viasat Sport Baltic. Along with Viasat Golf it replaced Viasat Sport 2 and Viasat Sport 3 for viewers on the Viasat platform in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
TV8 is a Lithuanian terrestrial, satellite and cable television channel aimed at women, owned by TV3 Group. It was launched on 3 October 2011. On the air: programs, series, lifestyle shows. TV8 shows mostly Lithuanian productions but also shows Turkish, German, Indian, Mexican etc.
TV Rain is an independent Russian television channel. Launched in 2010, it has been based in the Netherlands since 2023. It focuses on news, discussions, culture, politics, business reports, and documentaries. TV Rain is owned by journalist Natalya Sindeyeva. Its slogan is "Optimistic Channel."
Eurosport 1 is a television sports network channel which is a division of Eurosport and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012, and became majority shareholder in the Eurosport venture with TF1 in January 2014, taking a 51% share of the company, On 22 July 2015 Discovery agreed to acquire TF1's remaining 49% stake in the venture.
Events in the year 2022 in Latvia.
First Baltic channel was a Baltic pay television channel based on the largest Russian Channel One to broadcast its programs in the Baltic states. It was launched on 4 September 2002. The channel had also broadcast the local news programme Latvian time since May 2003. The channel was closed in Latvia on 26 October 2021 due to misinformation about COVID-19 and two other violations. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, its license was revoked and the channel was effectively banned in all three Baltic States.
Go3 Films is a film-only television channel available in the Baltic states. The channel originally was launched on 1 April 2008 by Swedish media conglomerate Modern Times Group as TV1000 Premium. In December 2019, TV1000 Premium was renamed to TV3 Film. In 2023, TV3 Film channels in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were renamed to Go3 Films.
