Oslo, December 5, 2014 - PRESS RELEASE Nordisk Film & TV Fond is proud to announce today that Norway’s second largest commercial broadcasting group SBS Discovery AS and its flagship channel TVNorge will be joining the Fund on January 1, 2015, bringing the group of partners to 17, including 11 broadcasters.
TVNorge follows in the footsteps of SBS Discovery’s Swedish flagship network Kanal 5 that has been with Nordisk Film & TV Fond since February 2008.
Petri Kemppinen, Head of Nordisk Film & TV Fond says: “I am extremely happy to welcome a third Norwegian TV station to our round of partners consisting now of as NRK, TV2 and TVNorge. This reflects the dynamism of the Norwegian television landscape where more local and Nordic TV dramas and films are produced and brought to local audiences.”
Eivind Landsverk, Nordic director of content and programming for SBS Discovery says:” Despite all the changes we experience in this business, content will always be king. Drama and drama-comedy has been one of our key success factors the last three years. Being part of Nordisk Film & TV Fond gives us more freedom to try out new and exciting ideas and push boundaries.”
TVNorge is part of SBS Discovery Media, a Norwegian media group owned by the US network Discovery Communications. Norway’s second commercial television portfolio also consists of FEM, MAX, VOX, TLC and Discovery Channel. The second quarter of 2014 was the best-ever for SBS Discovery TV Norge with a 26.2% share among individuals aged 15-50.
TVNorge has received substantial audience and critical success with its comedy TV series Neste Sommer (Feelgood Production) that collected an average viewing of more than 400,000 last spring and two Gullruten nominations for Best TV Drama and Best Actor to Lilyhammer star Fausa Aursvåg. TV Norge’s other successful comedy show Costa del Kongsvik (Seefood Production) won three 2014 Gullruten awards for Best Comedy Programme, Best Script for a TV Drama and Best Costume. The broadcaster’s documentary series På liv og død was also handed out a Gullruten for Best Documentary/Factual series.
Nordisk Film & TV Fond has a budget of around NOK90 million (€10.3 million) for 2015, provided in equal parts between three parties: the Nordic Council of Ministers, the five Nordic film institutes and 11 Nordic broadcasters (see the full list below).
The Fund supports between 35-40 feature films and TV dramas and around 25 documentaries each year. Among recent releases supported are Nymphomaniac, The Look of Silence, Force Majeure, No Burqas Behind Bars, The Grump, 1001 Grams, Captain Sabertooth and the Treasure Lama Rama, 1864, The Legacy, The Third Eye.
Nordisk Film & TV Fond also administers the annual Nordic Council Film Prize and arranges the annual Nordic Talents event together with the National Film School of Denmark.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s partners for 2015 are the following:
The Nordic Council of Ministers
Danish Film Institute
DR
TV2 Denmark
Finnish Film Foundation
YLE
Icelandic Film Centre
RUV
Stø∂ 2-365 Media
Norwegian Film Institute
NRK
TV2
SBS Discovery AS-TVNorge
Swedish Film Institute
SVT
TV4
SBS Discovery AB-Kanal5