If you want to follow the start of the cross-country skiing in Finnish Ruka, you must either have a Viaplay subscription or have access to Viasport 1 in your TV package.
Nor will the Tour de Ski be seen on the free-to-air channel TV3 during Christmas and New Year.
– It is sad for skiing that it has now ended up on a niche channel, says Gimnes to NTB.
– Many potential viewers do not have Viasport 1 in their TV packages, and many do not know that they have it in their portfolio of channels. And many cannot find Viasport 1 in the jungle of channels. This is very unfortunate for skiing, he adds.
Skiing is affected
Gimnes is a communications adviser for national team runner Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, but emphasizes that he speaks as a professional and industry expert.
He believes it is regrettable that “winter sports are reduced to niche communication”.
– This makes skiing less competitive compared to other sports that are on open main channels. As, for example, athletics which is on NRK, Gimnes points out.
He adds that Viaplay’s move could be the right commercial one for the company.
– I am not saying that Viaplay has made a bad choice for itself and its finances, but I am saying that it is sad for a major sport such as cross-country skiing and for the skiing sport that is affected here.
Gimnes does assignments for various media companies, including RiksTV (owned by TV 2), Nordisk Film (Egmont company), Amedia and Aller.
Read the comment from Reidar Sollie: Once upon a time, sports on TV were communal property
Black screens for skates
The problem of TV time is common to large parts of winter sports. This season, the World Cup in cross-country skiing is broadcast on a number of channels.
The national cross-country team’s spokesman Pål Golberg spoke about the case to NTB recently.
– The fact that cross-country skiing ends up on a premium channel because cross-country skiing is popular can be good for Viaplay in the short term, but it is the complete opposite for us, he said.
It’s even worse for the skaters. There, the World Cup has not yet been sold to any player in Norway. Nor has there been decisive interest in the rights to the World Cup competitions in Austria in a wide range of skiing sports.
Read also: Ragne Wiklund on the TV crisis: – It feels like a lost battle