Thematic channels belonging to Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV Norge have been dropped by the Get cable TV platform in a dispute over carriage. Absent from the network are the female-skewing Fem and music channel Voice TV. Recently launched Max is also unavailable, but the main TV Norge channel continues to be broadcast.
In a statement, Get said it had been in negotiations for some time, but ultimately was unable to reach agreement. Get had offered to include the channels in its basic packages at a price equivalent to other channels in the bouquet or to allow subscribers add the channels individually as part of an a la carte offer, even allowing TV Norge to set the price. The operator claims TV Norge will only allow it to purchase the channels as a bundle to include in its basic package alone. Apologising to customers, Get said it could not justify the increased costs being proposed.
For its part TV Norge’s executive director Harold Stromme said he wanted the channels to be seen by as many people as possible, but only under fair conditions. Following earlier agreements with Canal Digital, Riks TV and Altibox, Get had offered half the price paid by the rest of the market for Max.
Stromme said the offer to carry the channels a la carte was impossible as the broadcaster only had the rights to be carried in basic. “International movies and series are priced much more expensively if we were to buy pay-TV rights. This is completely unacceptable for an advertising-funded channel”.
TV Norge was formerly a part of the SBS stable, but is now a part of the ProSiebenSat.1 group.
