RiksTV

RiksTV (formerly "NTV Pluss") is the distributor of pay television in the Norwegian digital terrestrial television network. It is owned by Norges televisjon as, a consortium owned by Norsk rikskringkasting, the TV 2 Group and Telenor.

Except for NRK1, NRK2, NRK3, NRK Super and the NRK radio channels, all broadcasts in the Norwegian DTT network will be encrypted. (But TV2 is temporarily free-to-air until the end of 2009.) The channels that are broadcast in the RiksTV packages are selected by RiksTV themselves.

History

Pre-launch

Some of the initial discussions concerned the avilablility of free-to-air channels other than the ones from NRK. TV 2 and TVNorge had stated that their channels would be encrypted, although they were free-to-air in the analogue network. This caused Modern Times Group, owners of TV3, to announce the launch of "TV4" that they wanted to be free-to-air. RiksTV were however unwilling to broadcast it free-to-air.

The first channels were announced on June 12, 2007, and were TV 2, TVNorge, TV3, TV 2 Zebra, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, The Voice TV, SportN, TV 2 Filmkanalen, TV 2 Nyhetskanalen, Viasat 4, TVNorge2 (was named FEM the next day), Canal+ Sport 1 and Canal+ Film 1. [cite news | author=Hans Hjellemo | title=Her er digital-tv-kanalene | url=http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article55775.ece | publisher=Kampanje | accessdate=2007-06-13] The radio channels P4, Kanal 24 and Radio 1 were also included.

On June 12, it was announced that Animal Planet, Canal+ Film 2, the National Geographic Channel, TV 2 Sport and local television would launch later on. It was however announced in July that BBC World would become a part of the RiksTV package and that Animal Planet, Canal+ Film 2 and National Geographic would be a part of the package from the start, thanks to new compression technology. [cite news | author=Hans Hjellemo | title=RiksTV avviser kanal-press | url=http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article56118.ece | publisher=Kampanje | date=July 4, 2007 | accessdate=2007-07-04]

Among the rejected channels were MTV, [cite news | author=Knut Kristian Hauger | title=Stenger MTV ute | url=http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article55523.ece | publisher=Kampanje | accessdate=2007-06-13] Eurosport, [cite news | author=Hans Hjellemo | title=Eurosport ute av bakkenettet | url=http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article55543.ece | publisher=Kampanje | accessdate=2007-06-13] SVT1 and SVT2. [cite news | author=Knut Kristian Hauger | title=Får ikke plass hos RiksTV | url=http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article55766.ece | publisher=Kampanje | accessdate=2007-06-13] The fact that MTV was rejected, meant that The Voice TV would be the only music channel on RiksTV. International news channels such as CNN, BBC World and Sky News were also rejected initially, as TV2 Nyhetskanalen first was seen as good enough. [cite news | author=Oddvin Aune | title=Ny kanalrunde i 2010 | url=http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article55789.ece|publisher=Kampanje|accessdate=2007-06-13]

Launch

RiksTV started its launch on September 1, 2007, in Rogaland County. The lineup from the launch was:
* TV 2
* TVNorge
* TV3
* TV 2 Zebra
* Discovery Channel
* Disney Channel
* The Voice TV
* SportN
* TV 2 Filmkanalen
* TV 2 Nyhetskanalen
* Viasat 4 (launched September 8)
* FEM (launched September 3)
* Canal+ Sport 1
* Canal+ Film 1
* Canal+ Film 2
* National Geographic Channel
* Animal Planet
* BBC World

RiksTV will then launch in the remaining counties in this order: [cite web | title=1. september starter salget! | url=http://rikstv.no/Nar-kommer-det/1-september-starter-salget2/ | publisher=RiksTV | accessdate=2007-10-18]
*September 4, 2007: Østfold
*September 6, 2007: Oslo and Akershus
*October 1, 2007: Hordaland
*October 8, 2007: Møre og Romsdal
*October 11, 2007: Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark
*November 1, 2007: Sør-Trøndelag
*November 5, 2007: Sogn og Fjordane
*November 8, 2007: Hedmark and Oppland
*November 2008: Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland, Troms and Finnmark

References

External links

* [http://rikstv.no/ Official site]