In June 2002, a 12-year nationwide licence, including the roll-out of infrastructure, was publicly announced, met only by the application of Norges Televisjon (NTV), a joint venture between the state-owned broadcaster NRK, the leading private broadcaster TV 2, and the largest Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor.
NTV was faced with more complicated regulations than they expected (such as the licence running already from roll-out of infrastructure).
[3] If licence is granted NTV during 2005, the company says it plans to roll out infrastructure during 2006–2009, offering the Norwegian public between 15 and 18 TV stations; of them NRK1, NRK2, TV2, TV2 Zebra and a local channel.
[needs update] The EFTA competition authorities, ESA,[4] has protested on the application process, saying the ministry is not in position to grant the DVB-T licence to a state-owned company like NTV, but ministry says this protest will not affect their decision.
Analogue TV broadcasting was switched off in Rogaland (4 March 2008), Østfold (29 April 2008), Oslo and Akershus (20 May 2008), Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark (2 September 2008), Hordaland (30 September 2008) and Møre og Romsdal (28 October 2008).
Frikanalen is a non-profit open channel for NGOs, and today has 57 member organisations.
The following table shows the shares of total viewing for a few selected Norwegian channels.