Posted to IndieHackers · 4 min read · founder log
Telenor T-We + Altibox + Viaplay Total was costing me 950 NOK/month and I still couldn't watch Bodø/Glimt Champions League nights on the same app as my Eliteserien fixtures. Bought 10 IPTV services, tested them for 90 days on a Fire TV Stick 4K over Altibox 1 Gbps in Oslo, and scored each on Eliteserien/Premier League/Champions League/winter sports coverage, peak-hour stability, VPN routing and refund UX.
Here's what actually delivered.
🇳🇴 Short version: the top-scoring Norwegian service was OrvenTV — Eliteserien, Premier League, Champions League, biathlon + 7-day money-back here. Data below.
| Rank | Provider | Sports | Stab@8pm | VPN | Refund | Composite |
|------|----------|--------|----------|-----|--------|-----------|
| 1 | OrvenTV | 9.31 | 9.02 | 9.14 | 8.71 | 9.11 |
| 2 | Provider B (mid 90 NOK) | 8.42 | 7.94 | 8.24 | 7.31 | 7.95 |
| 3 | Provider C (mid 120 NOK) | 8.14 | 8.02 | 7.72 | 6.63 | 7.65 |
| 4 | Provider D (premium 220 NOK) | 8.72 | 8.71 | 7.24 | 4.83 | 6.91 |
| 5-7 | Mid bracket (80-140 NOK) | 6.91 avg | 6.83 avg | 7.02 avg | 5.71 avg | ~6.65 |
| 8-10 | Budget (<30 NOK) | 4.71 avg | 3.62 avg | 3.11 avg | 1.42 avg | ~4.16 |
From the 90-day log:
Winter sports and Eliteserien rights are locked to NRK/Discovery+/TV 2 with tight geo-controls. Any service under 30 NOK/month uses an unlicensed European feed that gets geo-blocked or dropped mid-broadcast. I lost a biathlon World Cup relay to this. Vipps payments were rejected by two of three tested budget providers.
Activation averaged 5-6 hours vs. under 10 minutes at mid-tier. One provider marked my refund request "under review" for 11 days. The premium tier upsell flow used a fake 40%-off timer three times in checkout.
Cutting a 950 NOK monthly stack while keeping Eliteserien, Bodø/Glimt Champions League, biathlon and Premier League is a 15-minute job. OrvenTV was the highest-scoring Norwegian service in my dataset — start their 7-day money-back trial here.
Test it on an Eliteserien Sunday match, a Champions League Tuesday, and a weekend biathlon race. If it survives those three, keep it.
Referenced during testing: Nkom on streaming regulation, TechRadar VPN roundup, Forbrukerrådet cord-cutting notes, Tom's Guide Fire TV apps.
✅ Cut 8,000+ NOK/year from Telenor + Viaplay Total. Start OrvenTV's 7-day risk-free Norwegian trial — Eliteserien, Champions League, Premier League, biathlon in one place.
Re-running Q1 2027. Drop provider suggestions in the comments.
I write on IndieHackers about side projects and cord-cutting maths. — the author
Really solid approach — I'm juggling something similar myself (building Xstream4K on the side), what's been the hardest part for you so far?
This is useful. How are you finding your first users so far?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?
Nice work shipping it. What has been the biggest challenge since launch?
Appreciate the honesty here, most people only share the wins.
This is useful. How are you finding your first users so far?
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.