Antenna Group and Sony Pictures Television today officially confirmed the deal for Sony’s linear channels in Central and Eastern Europe.

Interestingly, Sony was slightly oblivious to the markets it operates in and sent out a weird-looking email to journalists which reads: “The Sony Pictures website is no longer active, please go to this link: antenna-entertainment.com [not functional at the moment] – if you wish to register for access to a press site run by the new operators of the channels. Thank you”

In any case, the announcement itself was "broken" by the much earlier, as CEETV reported a few months back. It was Hungarian source SorozatWiki that first reported the upcoming sale in July.

Today’s official announcement said that the deal covers 22 pay TV channels and two OTT services in 12 territories, including the brands AXN, Sony and Viasat (in Hungary). The SPT channels are said to reach 24 million viewers in the region.

The deal comes just months after Sony sold off its entire U.K. channels portfolio to U.S. investment firm Narrative Capital.

Theodore Kyriakou, chairman of Antenna Group, said: “As Antenna Group continues to invest in media opportunities globally, the CEE region remains an important focus for us. We have invested in this region for more than 20 years aiming to provide the best entertainment and news content locally. This acquisition is yet another step in this direction whilst unlocking further growth in these markets.”