In the state budget for 2023, the government advocated that the VAT exemption for news, entertainment and sports on TV should end. The Storting adopted the proposal just before Christmas. Last autumn, TV 2 described the proposal as “dramatically”.
Winding up of VAT exemption for TV channels with news fell away on 1 January. Now full VAT applies, and it is added to the customer’s invoice. When you get the VAT increase varies from company to company.
It is the news section in the packages for TV viewers that has had zero VAT.
Information manager Daniel Barhom at Telia Norge confirms in an e-mail to Nettavisen that, like several of the competitors, they will have to increase the prices of their TV packages. The rationale is clear: the government has removed the VAT exemption for electronic news services.
also read
Rages against Viaplay’s Premier League response: – Tone deaf
Up 8.6 percent
The company then receives increased VAT on the TV packages, and this affects TV prices. Barhom states that the price increase for Telia customers applies from 1 March and is 8.56 per cent. The increase in kroner varies depending on the type of TV package the customer has.
Nettavisen knows whether a smaller condominium gets an increase in the TV subscription by NOK 21.21 per month per housing unit. This corresponds to the increase of 8.56 per cent on the TV share from 1 March.
Barhom writes that it is important to stress that Telia makes no profit from the price increase, because it is a value added tax they collect on behalf of the state. For business reasons, Telia will not go into what this amounts to in terms of costs for them, but according to Barhom, they absorb part of the VAT increase.
According to the information manager, Telia customers who are not bound are free to change their TV contract if they wish. However, it is not possible to remove news channels, because these channels are always part of Telia’s TV offer.
It is also not possible to remove channels from the news package and thus avoid the price increases. According to Barhom, the collective agreements have no right of withdrawal in this case. Telia does not change the content of the TV packages as a result of the VAT increase.
also read
Rages against Viaplay’s Premier League response: – Tone deaf
Telenor
Telenor customers who do not have a joint subscription will all receive the same increase.
– For individual customers, the VAT surcharge amounts to NOK 27.50 per month. For customers with collective discount agreements in condominiums and housing associations, the sum will vary depending on the type of agreement. Directors of condominiums and housing associations receive information about which surcharge applies, says information manager Magnus Line at Telenor to Nettavisen.
loosen (formerly Canal Digital and Viasat) increases the price for the Basic package by NOK 30 a month, from NOK 399 to NOK 429. As a small plaster on the wound, customers get access to content from Viaplay Film & Series, and in addition the linear channels V Series, V Film Family and V Film Premier.
also read
Responds to the situation Telenor customers have found themselves in
Goes exclusively to the state
Commercial director Ole-Andre Skarbøvik RiksTV/Strim says that it would have been best if they had let go of this price increase.
– The introduction of the value added tax is not a price increase that benefits RiksTV, but that goes exclusively to the state, Skarbøvik emphasizes to Nettavisen.
He will not be too specific about how large the price increases will be.
– How much it increases for each customer depends on the monthly price the customer has and will thus vary somewhat, he says.
And as this is a public decision, customers during the contract period do not have the right to cancel the contract. Therefore, normal conditions for termination of the subscription apply.
More expensive football
In addition to paying VAT, customers of streaming services also have to pay increased prices, for example to watch the Premier League. Viaplay recently raised the price from DKK 649 to 749 per month.
At Telenor, the price increases from NOK 649 to NOK 699 per month for a subscription to the package V premium from 1 March.
Telenor points out that this only applies to customers who have subscribed from mid-December. They say that the “new” V premium package gives rights to watch the matches outside your own home. It was not possible before.
