Europe is WAY ahead of the curb
It’s shocking how far ahead the Europeans are some times when it comes to technology. Here’s one example: Not only is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) streaming 100% of their content for free from their home page www.nrk.no but now they have set up an entire sub-division to focus solely on web-video related activity. The new project called NRKBETA is designed to teach people about video on the web - so pretty much what this blog is all about.
Just to illustrate how far ahead they are, read the article about how they are making a hugely popular show available DRM free through BitTorrent. How long do you think it’s going to take before the major US networks do the same? “Never” seems like a pretty good bet to me.
They have some articles in English but for the most part it’s in good old fashioned Norsk.
5 Responses to “Europe is WAY ahead of the curb”
By Andreas on Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
As a Norwegian, and a daily reader of NRKbeta, I’d just like to add that NRKbeta is more a Techcrunch/Wired-type of site, as well as just a company web video testing blog.
It has news about everything from the conferences that the writers attend, to small, funny apps and gadgets one can find on the web. A great site for us web-techie-mad Norwegians
By Knut on May 22, 2008 | Reply
I love NRK beta. Are you Norwegian? I am. And I like NRK beta. It is fun to stream tv shows.
By Knut on May 22, 2008 | Reply
You’re fast! Reading the comment and visiting my site imidiatly. But I would love an answer if you are Norwegian…
By Morten Rand-Hendriksen on May 22, 2008 | Reply
I just happened to log in right when you posted the comment. To answer your question, yes I am Norwegian but I live in Vancouver, Canada.
By Tre.fireq on Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
I went to school in Norway and I happen to also live in Vancouver (ja, jeg snakker norsk). I enjoyed the 1st episode of Nordkaloten, though I’m not into hunting and had never heard of Lars Monsen (though he does look very much like a drunk homeless guy I had an altercation with when I worked on Oslo sporveien…) I haven’t been back to Norway in a few years and it reminded me of good times there. However, one thing you don’t mention in your blog piece above is that NRK is state-funded, not a commercial network (at least it was when I lived there) and so the show has already been paid for, as it were. They don’t owe royalties on it like shows in the US, so it is a bit disingenuous of you to claim this proves the US is backwards in this sense. NPR, the US equivalent to NRK (ie state-funded, at least in small part) has many programs available in pod-cast form, for instance.
Just a reality check. I enjoy the program, as said, and they deserve props for putting it out there making it available for a world-wide (Norwegian speaking) audience.