Norkring AS is a provider of digital terrestrial television and radio transmitting in Norway and Belgium. In Norway, Norkring operates a Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial (DVB-T) network for Norges Televisjon, as well as an FM and Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio. In Belgium, Norkring operates a DVB-T, DVB-T2, FM, DAB and DAB+ network. It operated a DVB-T network in Slovenia between 2010 and 2012. Norkring is owned by Telenor; Norkring België is owned 75 percent by Norkring and 25 percent by Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen.
History
Early radio broadcasting The Norwegian Telegraphy Administration stated working on a radio broadcasting in 1922. After consulting other countries, it recommended that the government own and operate the transmission infrastructure. Norway abolished the ban on listening to foreign radio without a permit in 1923. At the same time a permit became necessary to operate a transmitter.Espeli: 165 Financing of broadcasting was based on a combination of advertisements, license fees for owning a radio and fee on purchasing a radio. Several companies allied in 1922 for permits to operate radio channels. To avoid similar problems as had occurred in the United States, the administration tried to limited manufacturers of radios from also owning the channels.Espeli: 166
Kringkastingsselskapet ("The Broadcasting Company") was granted the first permit in 1924. It had more than 2000 shareholders, with major parts owned by Marconi Company, Telefunken and Western Electric. It had a permit to operate a transmitter in Oslo with a reach of . It was owned by Kringkastingsselskapet, but operated by the Telegraphy Administration. An additional five transmitters were built in Eastern Norway during the 1920s.Espeli: 168 These included Rjukan in 1925, Notodden and Porsgrunn in 1926 and Hamar and Fredrikstad in 1927.Andersen: 237 Norway was allocated three AM broadcasting frequencies in 1926.Espeli: 164 Other radio channels were established in Bergen in 1925, Tromsø in 1926 and Ålesund in 1927.
Kringkastingselskapet received permissions to operate in most of the country from 1928. A scandal hit the broadcasting company in 1929, in which a new transmitter at Lambertseter in Oslo had insufficient power, and secondly following the discovery of management enriching themselves. The former was caused by the Telegraphy Administration's not fully understanding the effects of radio transmission during design, and under-dimensioning the transmitter. The issue was resolved when the manufacturer, Telefunken, took the cost of converting it from medium wave to shortwave.Espeli: 173 New transmitters were installed in Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim in 1930, Bodø in 1931, Narvik in 1934, and Vigra in 1935.
The scandal resulted in a proposal for a new organization of the broadcasting. At first Minister of Trade and Industry Lars Oftedal proposed a model whereby the transmission would be the responsibility of the Telegraphy Administration, and a new, private program company would be established, owned by the Oslo newspapers. This was opposed by Minister of Education and Church Affairs Sigvald Hasund did not want the sensation-oriented capital press from controlling the radio and wanted the government to have control. Mowinckel's Second Cabinet's successor in 1931, Kolstad's Cabinet, supported Hasund's line and proposed in 1932 that the government take responsibility for content. By the time the issue was being voted over by Parliament, Mowinckel's Third Cabinet was in place, proposing that the budgetary responsibility lie with the broadcasting company, not the Telegraphy Administration.Espeli: 175 The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation was established in 1933 as a government-owned, national broadcaster.Espeli: 169
NRK received the ownership of transmitter and studios, while the Telegraphy Administration was to be responsible for technical operations. The latter took over all responsibility for technical equipment at NRK from 1936, in an attempt to rationalize operations. However, it resulted in a reduced holistic control over NRK, and the arrangement was abandoned in 1950, when all technical aspects except transmission were transferred to NRK.Espeli: 170 A plan from 1930 called for a national network of 43 transmitter, which would be installed in three phases. The plans were by 1935 reduced to 19 transmitters. From 1933 to 1940, NRK invested 5 million Norwegian krone in transmitters. Only one additional major transmitter, in Narvik, was completed. The strategy was in part caused by low growth estimates and prioritizing constructing a broadcasting center at Marienlyst in Oslo. Estimates from 1939 indicated that 1.5 million Norwegian had stable reception of radio, about half the population.Espeli: 176
As a countermeasure against what was at the time characterized as the "Finnish danger",Espeli: 177 and to reach out to the Sami and Kven population with Norwegian language and culture, a transmitter was established in Vardø in 1934. Until 1935, programs from Oslo to other transmitters was conducted through a regular telephone line.Espeli: 178 Pre-made programs were tested distributed using gramophone records in 1934,Andersen: 239 but the quality proved too low. Shortwave radio transmission were tested the same year, but proved no higher quality.Espeli: 179
The following year the Telegraphy Administration introduced high frequency transmission lines between Oslo and the radio transmitters. This was in part financed through a NOK 2-million grant from the state and NOK 230,000 in annual subscription fees. NRK protested the decision, citing that the Telegraphy Administration was dictating the conditions. The initial line, which ran northwards to Vadsø, opened in 1934. Then lines were built to Ålesund, Bergen and via Kristiansand to Stavanger, the last opening three years later.Andersen: 240 The transmission lines were completed in 1937 and remained in use for 30 years. Their main downside was that they could not transmit in both directions simultaneously, which contributed to Oslo becoming the center of production. If content was to be transmitted from other locations, technicians would have to "turn" the line receivers. This was keyed by the radio operators announcing "the national program will continue from..." and from the 1950s "over to...", in which the program would pause for ten seconds for the technicians to reconfigure.
During the German occupation of Norway during World War II (1940–45), Nasjonal Samling (NS) and the German authorities took control over NRK. An independent part of NRK was set up in London and offered an alternative broadcasting. Both NRK London and the British Broadcasting Corporation became important radio channels. From August 1941 the occupational forces demanded that all NS members surrender their radios.Espeli: 261 Only 110,000 of 538,000 confiscated radios were returned to their owners, resulting in a massive production of new radios.Espeli: 375 This and increased penetration resulted in NRK having very high income in the late 1940s and 1950s, allowing them to take high risk. This was in contrast to the Telegraphy Administration, which was highly restricted on funding and wished to minimize risk.Espeli: 376 By the early 1950s, 93 percent of the population had access to radio—twice the penetration of telephones. This was due to a higher political support in building broadcasting infrastructure combined with lower investment costs.Espeli: 373 In the late 1940s NRK used large resources in building a shortwave sender in Fredrikstad which could reach Norwegian abroad and especially seamen.Espeli: 379
FM and monochrome television The period between 1945 and 1970 was dominated by a strategic disagreement between NRK and the Telegraphy Administration. In 1941, NS moved the responsibility for the technical part of programming to NRK. After the war there was initially consensus to reverse the decision, but NRK and Minister Kaare Fostervoll decided to support the new arrangement. A government committee agreed with Fostervoll, as did Parliament, and the transition was completed in 1950. NRK captured many of the Telegraphy Administration's younger engineers, which reinforced the tendencies for an innovative NRK and a conservative Telegraphy Administration.Espeli: 377
NRK started planning television broadcasts in 1950. It selected the internationally recommended 625 lines. A commission led by considered three transmission techniques: physical distribution of film, coaxial cables and microwave radio relay.Espeli: 378 Coaxial was tested with the construction of a line from Oslo which from completed to Gjøvik in 1953 and to Bergen in 1957. The military opened a relay between Eastern Norway and Bergen in 1954 with 24 telephone lines. However, the Telegraphy Administration initially remained skeptical to the technology.
In the end relays were regarded as the only realistic approach, although it would still incur large investments. A joint network, which could support television in the evenings and telephones during the day, was proposed, but disregarded by the Telegraphy Administration, stating the high costs. Parliament approved trial broadcasting in 1953 for two year, despite protests from the Telegraphy Administration. Starting on 12 January 1954, these were only sent from a transmitter in Oslo and were not announced. They were terminated in 1956.Espeli: 384
The Copenhagen Frequency Plan of 1948 resulted in Norway only being allocated one medium wave and one long wave frequency. The audio quality diminished as Norwegian transmitters were forced to share frequencies with foreign channels.Espeli: 380 This could be overcome by installing a network of FM broadcasting transmitters. The Telegraphy Administration rejected FM, stating that this would require the entire country to buy new radios. A 1949 plan proposed a new long wave transmitter at Kløfta and a national network of medium wave transmitters. NRK accepted the transmitter at Kløfta, but rejected the medium wave transmitters. As twenty percent of the population lacked acceptable radio coverage, NRK decided in 1953 to build FM transmitters in Western Norway and Agder to reach these areas. An advantage of building FM transmitters was that they could be co-located with television transmitters, reducing the roll-out costs.Espeli: 381
NRK therefore proposed moving the long wave transmitter from Kløfta to Western Norway and build an FM network in Eastern Norway. Telegraphy Director Sverre Rynning-Tønnesen stated that it was imperative to "cling to the past" and rejected this. By 1955 the Telegraphy proposed that the radio network be established using 26 FM transmitters. One on top of Gaustatoppen would cover central Eastern Norway while the rest would be built in areas without acceptable AM coverage. Transmission to the FM transmitters would be carried out using telephone lines. Construction of the FM and television transmission network was estimated to take ten to fifteen years. NRK rejected the plan, both because of the long time frame and because they wanted to prioritize Eastern Norway and Trøndelag, which had the most concentrated populations. The Telegraphy Administration also proposed that cable radio be installed, in part because it would accelerate the construction of the telephone network.Espeli: 382 Cable radio was installed in Setesdal, Rana, and Sulitjelma.Espeli: 383