Canal Digital was a Nordic

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

and

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, Sweden,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

that was founded in March 1997 as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between the French pay TV company

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

and the Norwegian

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

operator Telenor. The number of customers in 2017 was 838,000. From 2003 to 2020, Canal Digital was fully owned by Telenor. In 2004, Telenor Avidi was merged into Canal Digital and changed its name to Canal Digital cable television. In 2020, Canal Digital formed a

with Viasat to form the company

Allente Allente is a Nordic TV distributor that offers TV solutions via satellite TV and IPTV, to 1.2 million customers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In addition, the company offers streaming services, as well as IPTV solutions and fiber bro ...

. The merger was completed on April 13, 2021. Canal Digital was started as a

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

service to Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, but has since expanded into

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

in Norway, Sweden and Denmark,

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

in Finland and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...

in Sweden and Denmark. More than 2.9 million Nordic households and activities are subscribed to their services.

FTTH Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber op ...

services have slowly started in selected areas in Norway. Internet access through the cable network is based on the

EuroDOCSIS Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-bandwidth data transfer to an existing cable television (CATV) system. It is used by many cable televisio ...

standard. Canal Digital's cable system in the newer network areas which includes most of Canal Digital's cable networks in Norway is based on

hybrid fibre-coaxial Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) is a telecommunications industry term for a broadband network that combines optical fiber and coaxial cable. It has been commonly employed globally by cable television operators since the early 1990s. In a hybrid fib ...

technology. Some other network areas are

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

only, but are subjected to upgrading in order to support new TV

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

's. Unlike its DTH rival, Viasat, Canal Digital does not own a TV-network – they have however secured several multi-year exclusive deals with different TV broadcasters. As of 2011, Canal Digital has exclusive

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

rights with

C More Entertainment C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...

, ProSiebenSat.1 in Denmark,

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

, BBC Worldwide and

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

. Satellite exclusivity was more common in the past, but many channels that were once exclusive to Canal Digital have eventually signed agreements with Viasat. Broadcasters that were once exclusive to Canal Digital but later joined Viasat include Sveriges Television (joined Viasat in 2003),

TV4 AB TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously traded as ) is a Swedish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Sweden, ...

(2005–2006), National Geographic Channel, ProSiebenSat.1 in Norway and Sweden,

TV 2 (Denmark) TV 2 (''TV to'') is a Danish government-owned broadcast and subscription television station in Denmark based in Odense, Funen. History Since 1949, Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Dan ...

and

TV 2 (Norway) TV 2 (''TV to'') is a Norwegian terrestrial television channel. Its headquarters are located in Bergen. TV 2 began test broadcasting on 13 November 1991, and a year later, it was officially launched on 5 September 1992, becoming Norway's first co ...

. Their satellite broadcasts can be received from the

Thor 5 Thor 5, also known as Thor 2R is a Norwegian communications satellite. It was successfully launched for Telenor atop an International Launch Services Proton-M/ Briz-M carrier rocket, at 11:34 GMT on 11 February 2008. It is based on the STAR- ...

and Thor 6 satellites at 1°W with any DVB-S Receiver Equipped with a

Conax Conax develops television encryption, conditional access and content security for digital television. Conax provide CAS technology to pay TV operators in 85 countries. The company has offices in Norway (headquarters), Russia, Germany, Brazil, t ...

Descrambling Module.

Satellite television

High-definition television

Canal Digital was the first major distributor in the region to launch

high-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

. The first channel, C More HD, was launched in September 2005, using MPEG-2 compression. In June 2006, Canal Digital started broadcasting ''HD-kanalen'' from Sveriges Television and

in Sweden, which did broadcast the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

in HD using MPEG-4 compression. HD-kanalen became SVT HD in October when SVT expanded their HD broadcasts. The major launch of HDTV occurred in Sweden in November 2006 when a special high-definition package with

Discovery HD Discovery HD is the international name of the high-definition television channels owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The international Discovery HD (later Discovery HD World in Asia-Pacific markets, n ...

and Voom HD launched and C More HD was rebranded as Canal+ HD. The high-definition package were to be released in the other Nordic countries during 2007. High-definition channels launching in 2007, include

Canal+ Sport HD Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

in February, National Geographic Channel HD in April, TV4 HD (Sweden only) in May, Silver HD in September and History HD in December. 2008 brought Kanal 5 HD in January, Eurosport HD in May, Nelonen HD,

TVNorge HD TVNorge HD is a High Definition television channel in Norway. The channel is a joint venture by TVNorge and cable and satellite-TV distributor Canal Digital which started broadcasting on October 3, 2008. It's the first Norwegian high definition c ...

in October and

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

in December. Channels launched in 2009, include TV 2 Film HD in January and Animal Planet HD in February. The HD channels were initially offered for as a separate package, but starting on 1 April 2008, this package was dropped in Sweden and the HD channels were included in the "Family" package.

Danish channels

DR1 and DR2 are also available with a premium subscription in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Although TV 2 is broadcast on one of Canal Digital's transponders, it is not a DTH channel. Its only available to the Norwegian cable market, and is not a subscription channel.

Finnish channels

Norwegian channels

Swedish channels

Transnational

Cable television

Norway

As of 23 October 2018, Canal Digital Cable TV was fully fused into Telenor, marketed mainly as Telenor T-We while dropping the Canal Digital name with a primary focus on the T-We app for phones, tablets and Apple TV alongside traditional cable television tuners. This fusing separated Canal Digital Cable TV and Canal Digital Satellite TV customers further to avoid confusion between the two companies for their customers, which after the change had to either contact Telenor T-We or Canal Digital Satellite.

Sweden

Canal Digital in Sweden expanded into cable television in September 2003, when the cable companies Telenor Vision and Sweden Online were merged into Canal Digital.

Terrestrial television

Canal Digital sells decryption cards for digital television in Finland. Prior to the close down of the analogue channels, the package consisted of Disney Channel and four

TV channels. When the analogue transmitters were closed down, a new multiplex launched bringing Kino TV,

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, Discovery Channel and MTV to the package. Kino TV is exclusive was exclusive to Canal Digital, while the others were also sold by its competitor,

PlusTV PlusTV was a Finnish digital terrestrial television distributor owned by Finnish telecommunications company DNA. It is one of two pay television distributors in the Finnish terrestrial network, the other being Canal Digital. The package started i ...

. The erotic channel Canal 69 is added on 1 October 2007. The Terrestrial TV Package now consists of: * Discovery Channel * Disney Channel *Kino TV * MTV * Canal+ Film 1 *

Canal+ Film 2 C More Hits is a Scandinavian premium television channel showing movies and TV shows. The channel shows big blockbusters, independent movies, classic movies, movies from the whole world and erotic movies. The channel was launched as ''Canal+ ...

Canal+ Sport 1 C More Sport is a Scandinavian pay television sports network owned by C More Entertainment. It was launched as the Nordic version of ''Canal+ Sport'' on 1 May 2004, when C More introduced themed channels for movies and sports. On 1 September 2005 ...

Canal+ Sport 2 C More Tennis was a Scandinavian premium sports channel which replaced Canal+ Sport 2 on September 4, 2012, and became a sports channel with only tennis from ATP Tour, WTA Tour and Davis Cup. The channel also has the rights to the Grand Slam to ...

*Canal 69 Canal Digital have expressed interest in selling encryption cards for the

network in Sweden. The Norwegian terrestrial operator

RiksTV RiksTV (formerly ''NTV Pluss'') is the distributor of pay television in the Norwegian digital terrestrial television network. Except for NRK1, NRK2, NRK3/NRK Super and the NRK radio channels, all broadcasts in the Norwegian DTT network are enc ...

is partly owned by Canal Digital's owner Telenor.

IPTV

service was launched in Sweden in 2004. It offers most of channels also provided on the

platform as well as

interactive television Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new informatio ...

services and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

from C More Select, C More On demand, Film-To-Home and

SF Anytime SF Anytime is a video on demand service owned by Bonnier Group, Bonnier available in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and primarily offering movies. It was launched in 2002 and was then only available on the Internet. In January 2005, the servic ...

References

External links

Canal DigitalCanal Digital in DenmarkCanal Digital in FinlandCanal Digital in NorwayCanal Digital in Sweden
from LyngSat. {{Authority control Cable television companies of Norway Television networks in Sweden Telecommunications companies established in 1997 Mass media companies established in 1997 Companies based in Bærum Television in Denmark Television in Sweden Telenor Direct broadcast satellite services Cable television companies Television broadcasting companies of Norway Internet service providers of Norway