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Week of March 4, 2019

The world of the remote control and everybody pays
"It’s all about price"

The down-and-dirty part of the media business is distribution. It is less sexy than printing, which at least has the touchy-feely warmth of paper and ink. Distribution is a lot like accounting.

Norwegian telecom Altibox isn’t interested in carrying the new TV 2 Sport 1 channel, at least not under conditions demanded. Neither is telecom Telenor nor triple-play provider Get. They are all digging in for a fight, another term for negotiation. (See more about media in Norway here)

Last summer TV 2 “wrapped” its sports offerings, explained Kampagne (March 2), into a new channel - TV 2 Sport 1. It is filled with English and international football. TV 2 want broadband TV distributors to add the sports channel to their basic TV package, thus forcing customers, indirectly, to pay for a channel they might not want. Sports rights are expensive.

Altibox is a big bandwidth fiber provider owned by Norwegian energy utility Lyse. Get is the cable and IPTV provider acquired last summer by Swedish telecom Telia. Telenor is a multinational telecom based in Norway. TV 2 is the biggest commercial TV operator in Norway. It is owned by Danish media house Egmont Group. (See more about television here)

“The essence of this is freedom of choice and there we disagree,” said Lyse executive vice president Toril Nag. “TV 2 has its reasons for which we have an understanding, but we are living by being the client's best friend and then we are also going to have to listen to what the customer says.”

TV 2 chief executive Olav Sandnes disputes all of this. They have not, he said, required carriage of the sports channel. “It is Altibox that must choose.”

TV 2 is taking Get to court. This, too, is over “the distribution agreement related to TV 2 Sport 1,” said TV 2 spokesperson Sarah Willand, quoted by Dagens Naeringsliv (March 1). TV 2 also wants “better channel location” on the all-important remote control device.

“Its all about price, content and if enough people want it at that price,” explained Telenor spokesperson Tormod Sandstø. “That’s what underlies all (decisions) we make on content purchases. We can’t just take an extra bill. There, I totally agree with Toril Nag of Lyse.”

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