Bring Back Cross-country Skiing to NRK, SVT and YLE

Motivation:

In Norway, Sweden and Finland, the coming cross-country skiing season will sadly enough not be broadcasted on public broadcasting channels but on the channels of NENT Group. This severely limits the accessibility to watch it. If you do not own a TV it is not possible to access the broadcast without paying several hundred NOK or SEK or several tens EUR (to be able to stream it). Furthermore, in Sweden it will be broadcasted on TV6 which is, from October 1st 2021, not possible to watch if you do not have a channel subscription on your TV. As many people watching this very popular sport are elderly people with limited financial resources, this will end their possibilities to watch cross-country skiing. The aim of FIS has been to make the sport popular among young people, but as students and people generally being in their 20s often have limited financial resources, this limitation of access to the broadcast is totally wrong way to go.

Statement:

FIS should, at latest for the season 2026/2027 and onwards (the first season after the current NENT Group contract and onwards) prioritize that cross-country skiing should be broadcasted on state-owned TV in Norway, Sweden and Finland for the sake of accessability. Indeed, a drop in interest of the sport in these countries will have severe impact as these countries are very important for the sport. If very many people sign this petition, we can put pressure on FIS to bring back accessability to the cross-country skiing broadcast earlier.

Erik Boman    Contact the author of the petition