Canal Plus' Nordic pay-TV subsidiary has reported a 37% increase in subscriptions during 1999.

The French pay-TV giant's Scandinavian service had 472,000 subscribers in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland at the end of 1999, about 100,000 more than at the end of the previous year. About 30% of the new subscribers signed for the platform's digital channels.

Canal Plus joined forces with the Norwegian telecom TeleNor in 1998 to establish Scandinavia's first digital platform. According to Canal Plus Nordic managing director Stephane France, the digital channel Canal Plus Blaa (Canal Plus Blue), launched last year, is the main reason behind the increase in subscriptions. The channel has snared rights to several hit movies such as Titanic, As Good As It Gets and Tomorrow Never Dies, ahead of competitor TV1000, owned by Modern Times Group.