Hurtigruten: Slow TV Experience Brings Real Time Web Stream to Viewers
Adventurous TV viewers world-wide can watch a real-time live-on-tape web stream of Hurtigruten expedition ship MS Spitsbergen’s voyage in the waters surrounding Svalbard, an arctic archipelago located about midway between Norway and the North Pole.
This is made possible through a nine-day long, multi-camera, free to watch broadcast from Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK.
Through 17 cameras, an abundance of history, stories and information, all accompanied by Norwegian and Sámi music, we are offering viewers from all over the world a close to reality-experience of the actual voyage. This is the closest and most sustainable way you could possibly get to the real deal, promises Project Lead Thomas Hellum in NRK.
This is the second time Hurtigruten is the host of a slow TV production from NRK. The 2011 broadcast showcased a 134-hour long sailing with a Hurtigruten ship along the Norwegian coast. More than 3 million viewers from 110 different countries tuned in that time.
The viewers will find themselves surrounded by a jaw-dropping scenery, fascinating local communities, and exceptional wildlife including polar bears, whales, walruses, birds, and several other arctic animals observed from a non-interfering distance, says Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam.
Hurtigruten’s history in Svalbard is almost as long as the history of the company itself. The founding father, Richard With, established an expedition route between Svalbard and Hammerfest as early as in 1896.
The renowned Norwegian broadcaster has over the years become famous for their many slow TV program series. Barack Obama even referenced the phenomenon in a speech during a White House dinner in 2016, arguably fascinated by the concept.
Previous productions include:
2009: Bergensbanen minute by minute – train journey across Southern Norway
2010: Flåmsbana minute by minute – scenic tourist route, train journey
2011: Hurtigruten minute by minute – a coastal voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes
2012: Salmon river – minute by minute
2012: Telemarkskanalen minute by minute – channel boat trip
2012: Nordlandsbanen minute by minute – season by season – train journey north of the Arctic Circle
2013: National Wood Night
2013: Summer Entertainment Show – coastal cruise with entertainment show, a journey from Oslo to Kirkenes and back
2013: National Knitting Night
2014: 200 years in 200 minutes – lecture performed by Professor Frank Aarebrot
2014: 1814 in 24 hours
2014: Piip-show (showing birds in rigged “coffee shops”)
2014: The hymnal from cover to cover
2015: WWII in 200 minutes
2015: Summer Show minute by minute – coastal cruise with entertainment show, a journey from Vadsoe to Oslo
2016: Saltstraumen minute by minute
2017: Reindeer Herding minute by minute
2017: Summertrain, 8 weeks on Norwegian tracks with entertainment show
2018: Monsen (Norwegian modern explorer) Minute by minute
2019: The Clock minute by minute – 24 hours
