Tuesday’s meeting ended without resolution. The conflict between Discovery and Telenor is still deadlocked, eighteen days after the monetary quarrel, which made 13 Norwegian television channels unavailable for Canal Digital’s customers.
Both VG and Dagbladet wrote on Tuesday afternoon that there was a slight movement in the battle between the two parties towards finding an agreement. However, there came little out of their meeting. Communication director of TVNorge and Discovery Networks Espen Skoland argues that Telenor hasn’t changed its offer which consists of continuing the distribution of Discovery channels on the same price terms as under the old agreement from 2010.
– We ourselves requested a meeting today. The only thing that came out of it was that Telenor once again confirmed their position unchanged. They still offer 0 NOK, despite the fact that they have increased their prices for the customers with more than 1,000 NOK since we last negotiated, says Skoland, according to Dagbladet.
There were received no comments on the issue from Telenor so far.
The whole conflict is about the price which Telenor should pay for the rights to broadcast 13 Discovery channels including TVNorge, Five, Max and Eurosport.
The situation has been deadlocked since Sunday night. On Tuesday, the battle hardened even more, when it became clear that Telenor and its affiliates are taking all advertising away from Discovery channels.
Telenor’s communications director Tormod Sandstø said Tuesday afternoon to Dagbladet that they had come with a new proposal for a solution. Discovery doesn’t see the change.
– It appears strange that Telenor claims in mass media that they have come with a new proposal for a solution. It is not true. They have not changed one cent in the course of the last two weeks. In total 2.8 million TV viewers are affected, the conflict is also affecting the neighboring countries such as Sweden, comments Skoland to Dagbladet.
These channels are gone from the television screens of Canal Digital customers:
TVNorge
FIVE
MAX
VOX
Discovery Channel
TLC
Eurosport
Eurosport Norway
Animal Planet
Discovery Science
Discovery World
ID Investigation Discovery
Discovery Showcase HD
