Image: Bi Feng Xia Panda Base / Ähtäri Zoo

The Ähtäri Zoo said on Friday it has signed a two-year contract with MTV, which gives the media company some exclusive rights to cover the lives of the two giant pandas.

The zoo in south Ostrobothnia will be the new home for the pandas, which China agreed to lend to Finland earlier this year.

Kari Vainio, chief executive of the zoo, said he felt that MTV was a good partner to show how pandas live and talk about the current conservation efforts.

"Through MTV we will have great visibility and that was the most important reason for us to enter into this deal," Vainio said.

It is yet unclear as to how exclusive the contract will be and whether other media outlets would be allowed to cover the arrival of the pandas in Ähtäri in December.

Jaana Husu-Kallio from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who has been involved in the move of pandas to Finland, had no comment on the MTV deal.

"I think the most important thing is that the pandas will come to Finland and that everybody gets to see them," Husu-Kallio said.

The agreement to bring the pandas to the zoo was signed in April during a state visit by China's president Xi Jinping.