Preliminary financial figures for RiksTV show the Norwegian DTT operation made an operating profit of NOK 45.8 million (€5.90m) in 2010 after four years of losses. The company is expected to make a small profit, of around NOK 5 million, compared to a loss of NOK 236.2 million in 2009.
Speaking to Kampanje, CEO Christian Birkeland said RiksTV had managed to turn the huge deficit of the start up years into a nice profit, becoming the second largest TV distributor in Norway.
“We have put behind us a very good year, not to mention a very good development in terms of number of customers. We have had steady growth throughout the year, with just over 300 000 paying customers including seasonal customers.” Birkeland said an offer under which subscribers could receive a multiroom subscription covering four TVs for the price of one had been particularly successful
RiksTV closed 2010 with 480,000 subscribers, just 20,000 short of the five-year target of 500,000 set at launch September 2007.
In September 2009 owners NRK, TV2 and Telenor put RiksTV up for sale, only to withdraw it from the market after failing to reach a satisfactory price.
