Esports are coming to television in Norway

The largest private broadcaster in Norway is bringing esports to televisions across the country.

Commercial broadcast company TV 2 is partnering with local Norwegian organization House of Nerds to bring a full season of esports competition to domestic airwaves. The pair will initially offer broadcasts of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and StarCraft 2.

House of Nerds has established itself as a strong supporter of the esports scene in Norway. The hope for House of Nerds is that the partnership with TV 2 will take that support to a new level.

“Esports engages millions of viewers worldwide, and we look forward to creating a venue the spreads the sport to a wider audience in the country,” House of Nerds CEO Ida Faldbakken said in the announcement about the move.

The two groups will split duties in producing the broadcasts and creating the infrastructure for the seasonal play to be featured. Most of the broadcasts will broadcast on splinter channel TV 2 Sumo, but some will be carried on the broadcaster’s primary sporting outlet, TV 2 Sport.

“I am convinced that this is an exciting and innovative television product,” TV 2 Sport’s Mikael Harstad Groven expressed confidence in bringing esports to television. said.

This isn’t the first time esports will has featured on broadcast television. Fellow Scandinavian countries Sweden and Finland have both had esports competition featured in the past, as have other countries with varying degrees of success.

In the United States, the Championship Gaming Series was produced and carried by DirecTV. That production met with some initial success, but ultimately was halted after just two seasons of play.

Whether House of Nerds will be importing foreign talents or focusing on featuring local players has not been made clear. The country does boast arguably the biggest name in StarCraft 2 outside of Korea, Jens “Snute” Aasgaard, as well as a Counter-Strike team in LGB Esports capable of competing at the highest level. So there are some local stars capable of drawing interest if called upon.