Sports – Nation – Television: The cultural dimension of the Listed Events history in Norway

Abstract

The European Union revised its Television Without Frontiers directive in 1997. One significant catalyst for this change was that the liberalization of the television market led to a situation in which big, national sporting events more and more often were transmitted on television channels with limited coverage. The Listed Events initiative is an attempt to address this situation. This article studies the history of the Listed Events initiatives in Norway from 2000, and seeks, through an investigation of the presentations and discussions of the list proposals, to understand how the lists are connected to Norwegian culture and history. Ultimately, it is a question of national sporting events’ place in public service television in the 21st century.