April 10, 2019 (Norway) – NRK, the government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organization in Norway, has lost the rights to air several key winter sports in a bidding war with privately owned, Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT), reports News in English.no. NENT will take over all broadcasting rights to both alpine and cross-country skiing in the country as of 2021.

After providing over 50 years of extensive coverage on these sports, NRK has lost the rights to air around 40 percent of Norwegian skiing star’s performances. The company still retains the ability to broadcast biathlon and speed skating, but the loss of rights to air other key sports is a devastating blow to the organization.

“We are of course extremely disappointed,” NRK’s sports editor Egil Sundvor told his own organization’s news division on Thursday. “These broadcasting rights are important for us, and we stretched ourselves very far financially to secure them.” Sundvor added that NRK’s sports journalists will continue to report on winter sports from a journalistic perspective – the full article can be found here.