Future revenue streams for journalism are said not to lie in breaking news, but in spe
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cialist journalism that can engender income to sustain news production. A case study of
the Norwegian TV 2 News Channel, however, shows that its profit–making features lie
not in its content but in its mode of distribution. The added value of the channel to DTT
subscription packages is as much due to TV 2’s market power and news brand value as
to the news channel concept itself. This article analyses the function of the news channel
in today’s competitive journalistic landscape from the perspective of news sociology and
media economy, presenting a quantitative content analysis of the news output of TV 2
News Channel, qualitative interviews with TV 2 news editors, and analysis of key strategy
documents of the organization
