Despite its distinct characteristics, Norway’s television history follows a familiar European pattern. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) was established in 1933 as a license-fee-funded and state- owned radio corporation. NRK had a monopoly on all broadcasting in Norway, and when television came along, the NRK took for granted that it would be responsible for developing the new medium. Like other public broadcasters in the monopoly era, the NRK occupied a singular position as a major component of the national culture. The early years of television was marked by a pervasive social democratic enlightenment ethos inherited from radio. The NRK had from the beginning perceived education as one of its main tasks, and in the 1970s, the policy of enlightenment took on a sharper and more radical edge. News and current affairs became more explicitly geared toward closing the gap between the “information-rich” and the “information-poor,” and a wide range of programs—in both the information and entertainment categories—were broadcast with the aim of combating “alienation,” “marginalization,” and “passive viewing.” These ideals were particularly apparent in programs for children and young people, where issues such as racism, third-world poverty, and the environment were central throughout the period. Although the NRK transmitted quite a lot of high culture in the form of classical music and drama, the dominant ideology in the monopoly era was marked more by social-democratic egalitarianism than high-culture elitism. However, the NRK also transmitted highly popular entertainments programs. Norwegian versions of programs such as Candid Camera and The $64,000 Question were broadcast, although the formats were made more serious and “academic” than in the U.S. originals.

The social-democratic ethos of the NRK was based on an ideology of serving the ordinary man and woman. Many ordinary people were not convinced, however, perceiving the NRK as a self-satisfied, paternalistic and bureaucratic institution. In the polarized social climate of the 1970s, the NRK also became a target of sharp political attacks. Conservatives claimed that the NRK monopoly was controlled by radicals, whereas left-wing and cultural-libertarian interests claimed that their views were not given adequate representation (albeit less strongly). By the end of the 1970s, support for the monopoly was waning, and in 1981, the first moves were made by a conservative government to break up the broadcasting structure. To begin with, a series of experiments were conducted whereby voluntary associations, religious and political groups, and newspapers were authorized to set up local radio and television stations. Permission was also granted to a few cable companies to retransmit programs from Satellite Television Ltd. (later Sky Channel). Once these moves were made there was no turning back, however, and within a few years the conditions for local and satellite broadcasting was permanently liberalized.

The deregulation of broadcasting took place despite substantial political opposition from social-democratic and left-wing interests. These groups remained opposed to the establishment of terrestrial commercial broadcasting services in competition with the NRK, but as satellite services proliferated, the opposition became difficult to sustain. By 1990, almost 40 percent of the population could watch satellite channels, among them two services directed specifically at the Norwegian public. This was the pan-Scandinavian TV3 and the Norwegian cable channel TVNorge (TVN). Both of these came on the air in 1988, and both turned out to be far more popular than the international satellite channels that had been available up to that point. In the end it was the loss of national advertising revenue to services transmitting to Norway from abroad that broke down what remained of the opposition against deregulation. In 1990 the decision was made to allow the establishment of a second “official” Norwegian television channel, a privately owned “public-service” institution licensed by the state.

TV2 began broadcasting in September 1992. The corporation is owned by two of Norway’s largest media conglomerates, the Schibsted company and A-pressen, along with the Danish publishing company Egmont. From the beginning, TV2 was organized as a private company, but the political intention was that it should operate as a public-service corporation. There were restrictions on ownership, and there were also stricter regulations concerning advertising than those set out in the European television directive (which applies in Norway even though the country is not a member of the European Union). TV2 (and other commercial channels transmitting from Norway) are not allowed to put advertising breaks in news, current affairs programs, documentaries, and feature films (unless the break lasts 20 minutes or more). Advertising directed at children is also prohibited, and there is a ten-minute ban on advertising before and after children’s programs.

Although more channels are now available, the NRK remains a central reference point in Norwegian television. After it lost its monopoly position, the NRK made an effort to build an identity more as an independent media corporation and less of a state enterprise. From the beginning, government and parliament exercised detailed control over organizational and financial matters, but through organizational reforms in 1988 and 1996, the NRK achieved greater autonomy from the state. NRK is now a limited company, and although the state holds all the shares, the reforms have granted the NRK the right to appoint its own Director General and establish new services without going through a lengthy political process. In 1996, the NRK opened a second television channel (NRK2), and in recent years the corporation has been granted the right to fund potential new services (teletext, Internet services, pay- TV, and so on) with advertising. Its basic radio and television services nevertheless remain without advertising, although some forms of sponsorship have been allowed.

In the competitive economic situation of the 1990s and 2000s, the NRK has fought, successfully, to retain its position as the leading television company. In 2001, NRK1 obtained an average market share of 38 percent in the national market, compared with 31 percent for TV2. Although TV2 and NRK both have a set of legally defined public-service obligations, there are important differences between them. TV2 broadcasts far more drama than the NRK, and solely within popular genres. NRK’s output include some serious drama and substantially more culture, information, and children and youth programs. In its news service, TV2 has adopted a more tabloid, down-to-earth style than the NRK. Yet NRK continues to hold a strong position within news, entertainment, and sport. Both NRK and TV2 transmit around 50 percent imported programming, mostly from English-speaking countries. While NRK’s main strategy has been to expand early-evening and prime-time programming, and to retain its strong position during evenings and weekends, TV2 is moving toward a 24-hour service. It transmits many more repeats, and its schedule also is more highly structured, with permanent slots for different types of programming and with extensive use of “stripping,” the placing of identical programs and series in horizontal strips across the weekly television schedule (that is, broadcasting them at the same time each day). The NRK schedule has traditionally been more loosely structured and resources have been allocated on the basis of “importance” or “relevance,” rather than ratings. With the impact of competition, the NRK has also introduced more competitive scheduling policies. Particularly during the weekends, new scheduling principles have been instrumental in retaining viewers.

Although NRK1 remains the biggest channel, it is gradually losing out to TV2 in the younger age groups. Other commercial-service channels broadcasting in Norwegian are also trying to attract young viewers. TvNorge, which commanded a 10 percent market share in 2001, has sustained its position due to successful adaptations of game shows and global reality programs such as Big Brother and Temptation Island. TvNorge is owned partly by TV2 and partly by Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems (SBS), and is overall a loss-making enterprise. The fourth service broadcasting in Norwegian is TV3-Norway, which is almost wholly owned by the Swedish industrial corporation Kinnevik. TV3 is part of a pan-Scandinavian multi-channel operation broadcasting from London, thereby evading Norwegian media law. TV3 operates under far more liberal advertising regulations than the Norwegian-based stations, a fact that has led to loud complaints about unfair competition. TV3 has hardly any factual programming at all and broadcasts mainly drama and “reality” shows. Its market share was 7 percent in 2001. The final national channel is NRK2, which was supposed to help the NRK win back younger viewers and sharpen its cultural profile. It has not been very successful, however, commanding a 3 percent market share in 2001.

As elsewhere, the television debate in Norway in recent years has been focused on the challenges of digitization and convergence. There are presently several digital satellite and cable services available, and there are plans to start building a terrestrial digital net in 2002. There is some doubt about the profitability of this enterprise, due to international experiences and the fact that two-thirds of the population already has access to satellite and cable. Fear that the Norwegian public service channels might lose out to global and commercial competitors has led the NRK and TV2 to join forces, and in January 2002 they announced the formation of a joint venture—Norges Televisjon—that aims to be the leader in terrestrial digital television within the next few years.

The state of Norwegian television in the early years of the new century is one of both stability and turbulence. Audiences for the national channels remain high, although both advertising revenue and the license fee shows signs of stagnation. The political legitimacy of the Norwegian duopoly also appears to be undoubted, as TV2 was awarded a new seven-year license without much public criticism in 2002, and the legitimacy and political support for the NRK has increased remarkably since the monopoly era. There is a broad consensus that the NRK should continue as a license-fee-funded broadcaster, with a broad range of programming. Current financial difficulties have led to claims that the NRK should cease competing against commercial companies for sport and entertainment programs and concentrate on “serious” programming, but this view has not gained support within the political parties nor within the state-appointed Public Service Council.

Regarding the digital future the situation is more uncertain. An important lesson so far in the competitive era is that those services that have limited themselves to low-quality, low-cost international formats have been less successful than those that have made an effort to reflect Norwegian culture and daily life. In Norway, factual programming such as news, documentaries and current affairs, and domestically produced family-entertainment programs still obtain considerably higher ratings than the cheaply made games shows and reality programs available on cable and satellite.