RiksTV (formerly ''NTV Pluss'') is the distributor of pay television in the Norwegian digital terrestrial television network. Except for

NRK1 NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's (NRK) main television channel. History Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts started on 13 April 1958 and regular broadca ...

NRK2 NRK2 (NRK To) is one of the TV channels of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). It was launched on 1 September 1996. History The channel started its regular broadcasts on 1 September 1996, but the evening before, a live simulcast, led ...

NRK3 NRK3 (NRK Tre) is a digital TV channel aimed at youth and young adults and produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. History Launched on 3 September 2007, and on air from 19:30 each evening, the channel features such British and Americ ...

NRK Super NRK Super is a Norwegian TV & radio channel aimed at children, run by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The TV channel is broadcast on the digital terrestrial network, on the same frequency as NRK3 from 7am to 7pm, and was launched 1 Decemb ...

and the NRK radio channels, all broadcasts in the Norwegian DTT network are encrypted. The channels that are broadcast in the RiksTV packages are selected by RiksTV themselves.

History

Pre-launch

Some of the initial discussions concerned the availability 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 Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosoph ...

, 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 12 June 2007, and were TV 2,

TVNorge TVNorge (literally "TVNorway"; originally abbreviated TVN, now just abbreviated N in the logos) is a Norwegian television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA. History TVNorge went on the air on 5 December 1988 and was the first adver ...

, TV3,

TV 2 Zebra TV 2 Zebra is a Norwegian television channel showing entertainment programmes, interactive programmes and live sport mainly targeted towards a male audience. The channel was started as TV 2 Xtra on 24 January 2004, but before that the channel was ...

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

The Voice TV The Voice TV is a network of music television channels owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media (formally SBS Broadcasting Group). Previously broadcast in Finland (2004-2012), Denmark (2004-2012), Norway (2004-2012) and Sweden (2004-2008). In October 2006 ...

SportN Viasat Sport N ("N" as in "Norway") was the name of a former sports channel which broadcast to Norway. The channel launched on 29 November 2005, as a replacement for the then pan-Nordic Viasat Sport 1 channel in Norway. The channel was a joint v ...

TV 2 Filmkanalen TV 2 Filmkanalen was a Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway ...

TV 2 Nyhetskanalen TV 2 Nyheter (''TV 2 News'') is a 24-hour Norwegian language television news channel which started broadcasting on 15 January 2007. It is Norway's first national news network in Norwegian, although Nyhetskanalen did exist from 1997 to 1998. The c ...

Viasat 4 TV3+ (formerly V4 and Viasat 4) is a television channel broadcasting to Norway owned by the Viaplay Group. The channel was launched test on 28 September 2007, a week 14 June 2014 after the launch of the digital terrestrial television network in N ...

, TVNorge2 (was named FEM the next day),

Canal+ Sport 1 C More Sport is a Scandinavian pay television sports network owned by C More Entertainment. It was launched as the Nordic version of ''Canal+ Sport'' on 1 May 2004, when C More introduced themed channels for movies and sports. On 1 September 2005 ...

and Canal+ Film 1. The radio channels P4, Kanal 24 and

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

were also included. On 12 June, it was announced that

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

Canal+ Film 2 C More Hits is a Scandinavian premium television channel showing movies and TV shows. The channel shows big blockbusters, independent movies, classic movies, movies from the whole world and erotic movies. The channel was launched as ''Canal+ ...

, the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

, TV 2 Sport and local television would launch later on. It was however announced in July that

BBC World BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

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. Among the rejected channels were

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

SVT1 SVT1 (SVT Ett; commonly referred to as Ettan) is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden. History Television in Sweden officially launched on 4 September 1956 with the launch of '' ...

and

SVT2 SVT2 (SVT Två; commonly referred to as Tvåan), is one of the two main television channels broadcast by Sveriges Television in Sweden. Launched in 1969 by Sveriges Radio, the channel was until the 1990s the most watched in Sweden for many yea ...

(these two due to rights issues). 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 CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

and

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

were also rejected initially, as TV2 Nyhetskanalen first was seen as good enough.

Launch

RiksTV started its launch on 1 September 2007, in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

County. The lineup from the launch was: RiksTV was then launched in the remaining counties in this order: *4 September 2007:

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

*6 September 2007:

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

*1 October 2007:

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

*8 October 2007:

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

*11 October 2007:

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

and

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

*1 November 2007:

Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag () was a county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. To the west is the No ...

*5 November 2007:

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

*8 November 2007:

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged i ...

and

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

*November 2008:

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...

and

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

Post-launch

On 25 June 2009, TV 2 upgraded their signal and started broadcasting the entire channel in high-definition.

closed down on 15 September 2009. Its channel space was left empty for two months until 15 November, when it was replaced by

. On 10 September 2010, RiksTV announced the first major expansion of its channel lineup with six new channels. The new channels were the Swedish public service channels

and

, the Children's channels

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televis ...

and

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...

, the lifestyle channel

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

and the new men's channel MAX. TVNorge will also started broadcasting in high-definition. The new channels launched on 14 September, with the exception MAX which starts on 1 November. On 1 November 2012, SVT2 was replaced by

BBC Entertainment BBC Entertainment is an international television channel broadcasting comedy, drama, light entertainment, reality and children's programming (some regions only) from the BBC, Channel 4 and other UK production houses. The channel broadcasts regi ...

.BBC Entertainment – endelig til RiksTV
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Today

RiksTV has a monopoly in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

terrestrial pay-TV and its services include the following packages and channels:

Television channels

Radio channels

On-demand

References

External links

Official site
{{NRK Television broadcasting companies of Norway Companies based in Oslo Companies established in 2005 Pay television NRK Telenor TV 2 (Norway)