Fabricating Cultural Events: The Rise of International Programme Formats in Norwegian Television Production

Abstract

International trade and cooperation are increasingly affecting what we experience in the national and local media. This development is rapidly evolving with live televised events, like Idols and Dancing with the Stars, and here I pursue why (and how) this is so. I engage specifically with the ways in which licensed international programme formats intervene in existing programme traditions, and affect the repertoire and capacity of national television producers. I trace the practices of the two largest Norwegian broadcasters over the last two decades. The question is not only how licensed formats affect different industry sectors, in this case license-funded NRK and commercial TV 2, but also how different units within the broadcasters are impacted. The article calls for heightened sensitivity to new forms of control and collaboration in creative processes, and new routines for premeditating live events. It suggests that format exchange should be evaluated along a continuum from open to closed; a continuum that can bring nuance to discussions of cultural colonisation.

Keywords

• Television production, programme formats, scheduling, live events, new media