TV 2 Direkte

TV 2 is a major Norwegian commercial free-to-air TV channel and the first private channel in the country. It was established in 1991 and launched in 1992. Since 2012, the TV 2 Group (TV 2 Gruppen) has been fully owned by the Danish media conglomerate Egmont Group (until then, Egmont and Norwegian media group A-pressen (now Amedia) held 50% stakes in TV 2 Gruppen).

Like its Danish namesake, but unlike TV2 in Hungary and other countries, a space is written between ‘TV’ and ‘2’.



1988–1989	1990–1991 (prelaunch)	1991–1992 (prelaunch)	1992–2003	2003–2013	2013–present

Norsk TV1

1988–1989

TV 2 Norway dates its history back to 1988 when it was originally launched as Norsk TV1. The channel was short-lived and was closed down the next year.

TV 2 Norway

1990–1991 (prelaunch)

A couple of months later, Norsk TV1 was replaced by a new channel called TV 2 Norway. This pre-launch logo for TV 2 Norway first debuted in 1990 when Storting opened it up to establish an commercial-licensed option for NRK. The license was announced a year later on 31 January 1991, by requiring no owners to own more than 20 percent of the shares in the channel. There were many stakeholders for the license, including Schibsted, Egmont, Orkla, a grouping around Rolf Wesenlund and Arne Fjørtoft, and an investor group called NTN that was planning to apply for the concession. The license was won by TV 2 Norway in 1991, and the company was a consortium owned by Schibsted, Vital Forsikring, Gutenberghus, NTN, Selvaag, Bergens Tidende and Sissel Ditlevsen.

1991–1992 (prelaunch)

On 13 November 1991, TV 2 Norway replaced its prelaunch logo by its first logo being a 3D-animated ‘2’ numeral that is coloured turquoise and pink and is put to the side of a picture frame. With this first logo, its parent company TV 2 Gruppen AS was established, and so, TV 2 Norway began its test transmissions. When TV 2 Norway commenced its test transmissions, it broadcast a regular prelaunch program with a disclaimer to notify Norwegian viewers, but the channel did not launch officially until 5 September 1992. This logo was short-lived, lasting only 11 months.

1992–2003

On 5 September 1992, TV 2 Norway discontinued its first logo by deleting the turquoise-pink-coloured 3D-animated ‘2’ numeral down and also eliminating the 2D-animated picture frame, as the two old 3D-animated ‘2’ numeral and the 2D-animated picture frame gets both removed away from the logo, and with it, they are now replaced by something brand new except its first logo gets replaced by anything awesome. It gets replaced by a new logo of a colourful ‘2’ numeral that paints the four colours in red, yellow, green, and blue. At the same time, TV 2 Norway successfully completed its test transmissions and so, the channel officially launched on 4 September 1992 with the launch identity being created by Scandinavian Design Group.

TV 2 AS - The logo and graphic profile

2003–2013

In 2003, as the original logo was complicated with its many colours and gradients, TV 2 introduced a simplified logo, though the 3D logo from 1992 continued to be used for a few more years..

Eventually, this flat logo replaced the original 3D logo on screen and was used for all TV 2-branded channels. In 2010, TV 2 launched a high-definition (HD) feed.

2013–present

A further simplification of the original 1992 logo was released on 18 January 2013. A one-colour version, contained in a square, was gradually introduced for the other logos of TV 2 Gruppen. As before, the logo was designed by Scandinavian Design Group.

This came along with a new graphics package and set of idents, designed by Red Bee Media. Flama is the new corporate typeface of the group, and is used in all its logos.