Oslo City Council has started negotiations with both foreign and local bidders interested in acquiring 66% of its stake in the municipally-owned Oslo Cinemas.

After 77 years as a public service, the sale of Norway's largest exhibitor Oslo Cinemas, which controls 25% of the country's cinema market, is being closely followed by both politicians and the public. Oslo Cinemas operates 11 sites with 31 screens and attracted 3 million admissions last year.

Several Scandinavian exhibition majors, including Bonnier's Svensk Filmindustri, have expressed interest in the circuit . But since the bidding deadline, only local cinema chain Kino 1 has revealed it was among the contenders. SF, on the other hand, announced that it had refrained from bidding, saying that it had other plans for the Norwegian capital.

The private exhibitor Kino1 has 16% of the Norwegian theatrical business. With eight screens and 913 seats, it is the country's fifth largest exhibitor.