Invitation to tender - Nationwide terrestrial television broadcasting licence in Norway

Invitation to tender

Nationwide terrestrial television broadcasting licence in Norway

1. Introduction

In 1990, the Norwegian Storting (Parliament) announced that a licence for the establishment of a television channel to transmit via analogue terrestrial transmitters in Norway nationwide programmes financed by advertising might be granted. This licence was granted in 1991 to the company "TV2 AS". The licence is to be awarded again for a period of seven years with the effect from 1 January 2003. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs thus invites applications for the licence.

The Ministry has outlined below the information that the applications must contain and the conditions the Ministry is expected to make in respect of the licence.

As there is limited bandwidth available for analogue transmissions, only one licence will be granted in this round.

The Ministry would like to point out that other regional analogue frequencies may be awarded to other parties for television transmissions. This primarily concerns frequencies in western and northern Norway. The authorities may also award licences for the broadcasting by satellite of television programmes, which may be received by satellite dish and/or cable by a significant part of the population. The Ministry also wishes to point out that a television channel may acquire nearly nationwide coverage by transmitting via the local terrestrial network (see Section 7-6 of the Regulation No. 153 of 28 February 1997 concerning Broadcasting (the Broadcasting Regulations)). Following any development of a nationwide, digital, terrestrial network for transmissions, further television licences for nationwide transmissions may be awarded. The licensee must accept the establishment of such competitive television channels and other new applications of bandwidths without any amendments to their own licence terms.

This invitation is available in Norwegian and English. In case of divergence in meaning between the two versions the Norwegian version shall take precedence.

2. Parties entitled to apply

Any Norwegian or foreign enterprise, company under formation etc., is entitled to apply for the award of the broadcasting licence, provided that the company is established in such a way that transmissions will come under Norwegian jurisdiction in accordance with Council Directive 89/552/EEC, as amended by the European Parliament and Council Directive 97/36/EU, cf. Section 1-1 of the Broadcasting Regulations.

3. Contents of the application

a. Information about the applicant

The application must state the name and address of the enterprise, and the name and address of the contact person the Ministry is to deal with. The telephone and fax numbers and the e-mail address of the enterprise and the contact person must also be given.

The application must state the registered headquarters of the enterprise, its ownership structure, the name of its owners and where it is registered. Details of the enterprise’s capital, its articles of association and any shareholder agreements must be submitted as appendices to the application.

b. Broadcasting competence

The applicant and/or its co-operative partners must be able to document considerable competence in the field of television broadcasting and programme production, or describe how it plans to develop such a level of competence before the start of the licence period.

c.Information regarding fulfilment of the public service broadcasting obligations

Applicants must provide a detailed outlined account of how they expect to meet the public broadcasting obligations as outlined in section 4 below, and of the frequency and scale of the various categories of programmes and TV services. Applicants are also required to give detailed information on how other aspects of broadcasting activities will be organised and operated.

d. Financing plan

Applications must include a specified list of estimated costs to fulfil the terms of the licence as well as estimated costs to fulfil its own plans for operations. Applications must enclose guarantees for the financial obligations the applicant will undertake to finance the broadcasting activities. Applications must contain a detailed financing plan for establishing and operating the broadcasting company throughout the licence period, and describe all relevant aspects of this financing.

e. Other information provided by applicants. Status of applications

The Ministry may request further information from applicants.

If the applicant presupposes certain conditions or reservations, the application must describe this in distinct terms.

The application is binding in the sense that every matter concerning plans for programming, technical development, payment for taxes etc. described in the application might be included as a part of the terms for awarding the licence. Other conditions might be set according to the Broadcasting Act.

If, during the handling of the application or the remainder of the award process, an applicant merges or enters into any form of cooperation that affects its planned broadcasting activity, the Ministry must immediately be notified. The Ministry shall also be notified in the event of any other matters that may affect consideration of the applications.

Pursuant to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act, the contents of the application shall be made available to the public, with the exception of the information considered to be business secrets, cf Section 5a of the Freedom of Information Act and Section 13 of the Public Administration Act. Applicants must state which parts, if any, of the application that should be considered as business secrets. It is expressly pointed out that the Ministry of Cultural Affairs may carry out an independent assessment of whether such information should be regarded as business secrets.

f. Submission of applications. Application deadline. Assessment of applications.

Five copies of the application, in Norwegian or English, are to be sent or delivered to:

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs
P O Box 8030 Dep
0030 OSLO
Norway

by 30 May 2001 at 2 p.m.

The Ministry is under no obligation to consider applications that fail to meet the requirements with regard to organisation, content, etc.

The licence will be awarded before the end of 2001.

The Ministry will primarily emphasise applicants’ plans for operating the public service obligations. The Ministry will also consider of particular importance the applicants’ plan for financing and operating the broadcasting company.

The mode of payment chosen (cf. 4f) will have no impact on the evaluation of applications.

4. Terms of the licence

The Ministry will lay down conditions for awarding the licence in compliance with Section 2-1 of Act No. 127 of 4 December 1992 relating to Broadcasting (the Broadcasting Act). The terms will be finalised at the time the licence is awarded and will be based on Proposition No. 55 (1989–90) to the Odelsting (the larger division of the Norwegian parliament), Recommendation No. 2 (1990–91) to the Odelsting and the parliamentary debate of these documents. The following terms will govern award of the licence. Further conditions may be stipulated.

a. Programming

The profile of programmes must be based on the principles of public service broadcasting. This means the programmes must be suitable for, and of interest to, the general public, and that programmes must be offered for both large and small viewer groups. The following categories of programmes and services must at least be included in the transmissions:

• Daily news bulletins offering national and international news, and presenting and commenting on Norwegian and international news;
• Current affairs programmes;
• Documentaries;
• Norwegian-language programmes with a wide variety of themes and genres especially intended for children and adolescents;
• Programmes in Sami for the Sami community as well as programmes for other minorities;
• Cultural programmes covering a broad spectrum of Norwegian and international culture;
• Programmes on religious beliefs and other systems of belief;
• Norwegian-language drama and entertainment covering a wide variety of themes and genres;
• Use of both official Norwegian forms of language and dialects;
• Subtitling in Norwegian, or the provision of other services to enable groups with impaired hearing to enjoy the programmes;

A minimum of 50 per cent of programming shall consist of programmes in the Norwegian language.

The licensee is bound to comply with the regulations governing European television material (cf. Section 2-6 of the Broadcasting Act, and Chapter 2 of the Broadcasting Regulations).

Conditions might be laid down to govern the frequency and scale of the various categories of programmes and services.

Programmes must adhere to the principles of freedom of expression, editorial autonomy and independence.

b. Notices from the authorities, etc.

The licensee may be instructed by the relevant authorities, at no charge, to broadcast notices from the authorities in accordance with Section 2-4 of the Broadcasting Act, and Section 1-7 of the Broadcasting Regulations.

The licensee may also be instructed to execute emergency measures in accordance with Section 2-4 of the Broadcasting Act.

c. Technical development and provision of services

A long-term goal is that the transmissions shall reach the entire population of Norway.

The Ministry will require that coverage at least equivalent to TV 2’s current coverage via terrestrial transmitters be maintained during the licence period.

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs may accept a deviation from this provision for the analogue transmissions if a significant part of the population locally, regionally or nationally receive the licensee’s transmissions by digital technology.

The licensee for the operation of technical broadcasting facilities is NORKRING AS. It is expected that the television licensee itself will enter into the necessary agreements in order to achieve the stipulated level of coverage.

d. Start of transmissions

The Ministry will require that transmissions start on 1 January 2003.

e. Financing

The channel may be financed through various means including advertising and sponsor income within the bounds of the Broadcasting Regulations (enclosed). Public funds will not be made available for establishing or operating the licensee’s activities.

f. Taxes

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs will propose an amendment to Act No. 127 of 4 December 1992 on Broadcasting, which will give access to charge a tax to the State Treasury for allocation of the licence to broadcast nationwide programmes financed by advertising. On condition that the Norwegian Storting adopts the Ministry’s amendment bill, the licensee is obliged to:

i) Either pay NOK 150 million upon allocation of the licence, in addition to an annual tax consisting of two elements – a fixed element and an element the size of which will depend on the licensee’s income of advertising revenues:

• The fixed tax is NOK 25 million.
• The annual income-based tax shall be calculated as follows:
  7.5 per cent of advertising revenues between NOK 1 billion and NOK 1.5 billion
  10 per cent of advertising revenues between NOK 1.5 billion and NOK 2 billion
  20 per cent of advertising revenues over NOK 2 billion
• The fixed part of the annual tax is deductible from the income-based tax. However, the total annual tax shall be at least NOK 25 million.
• The fixed annual tax and the revenue intervals will be regulated annually during the licence period based on changes in the consumer price index from the month the licence was awarded.
• The Government might lay down further provisions concerning the basis for calculation of the annual tax.

ii) Or pay NOK 500 million to the State Treasury upon allocation of the licence.

The two models for payment of taxes are of the same standing. The applicants have to document financing of the tax according to the chosen payment model.

A part of the tax, NOK 25 million, will be earmarked annually for Norwegian audio-visual productions.

g. Ownership

The ownership of the channel will be subject to Act No. 53 of 13 June 1997 relating to Supervision of the Acquisition of Newspaper and Broadcasting Enterprises, and the Media Ownership Authority’s enforcement of this.

h. Localisation

The Norwegian Storting (parliament) decided 20 November 1990 that the channel's head office and main news editorial office must be in Bergen. This condition will apply for the new licence period.

i. Licence period

The licence will be granted for a period of seven years, effective from January 2003. The licence is not transferable.

j. Annual report

The licensee will be required to submit an annual report on the year’s activities and plans for the subsequent year. The report must also contain programme statistics in compliance with the guidelines for this issued by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

k. Sanctions

In the event of any breach of the terms of the licence or of any other rules relating to broadcasting operations, sanctions may be imposed on the licensee in accordance with the currently applicable system of sanctions.

l. Amendments in the terms of the licence

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs may amend the terms of the licence in disfavour of the licensee in the licence period, owing to international obligations, amendments in national law, or such amendments is considered to be appropriate owing to other important public interests.