Season 2 of the young adult series Venner fra før will be cancelled and other productions will be postponed due to the Norwegian broadcaster’s overall savings plan.

The news of NRK’s drastic budget cut for next year was announced on Wednesday by the broadcaster’s Director General Vibeke Fürst Haugen, ahead of the group’s formal approval of its 2023 budget December 13.

Underlining that the 2023 budget is “exceptional” due to the current global context, Fürst Haugen acknowledged that “it’s been challenging to save more than NOK 300 million (€30m) in next year’s budget”. “All reductions are made with a view to how we can best protect our important [public service] mission, audience use and NRK reputation,” she stated.

About 50% of the cuts will impact content production, and the rest will affect jobs, support functions, consultant services and investments.

Besides news delivery which was spared, all other content departments will be affected, from drama, sports, factual, culture and entertainment, as well as external programme acquisitions.

As part of NRK’s savings plan, fewer drama and factual series will therefore go into production in 2023, some premieres will be postponed until 2024 and “the scope of single productions will be streamlined and reduced”, according to the Norwegian broadcaster’s statement.

Speaking to nordicfilmandtvnews.com Marianne Furevold-Boland, Head of Drama at NRK, confirmed the financial constraints lined up for 2023 and said that one in-house series in developed - Venner fra før season 2 had already been cancelled. “It is regrettable, but we simply have to be more realistic with what we can achieve with our 2023 budget”, conceded Furevold-Boland.

“We have made some tough priorities, but still NRK must deliver a solid content offer in 2023, under new financial conditions,” noted Fürst Haugen.