DR (pronounced[ˈte̝ˀˌɛɐ̯]), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English,[1] is a Danishpublic-serviceradio and television broadcasting company.[2] Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise. DR is a founding member of the European Broadcasting Union.
DR was originally funded by a media licence, however since 2022, the media license has been replaced by an addition to the Danish income tax.
Today, DR operates three television channels, all of which are distributed free-to-air via a nationwide DVB-T2 network.[3] DR also operates seven radio channels. All are available nationally on DAB+ radio and online, with the four original stations also available on FM radio.[4]
History
DR was founded on 1 April 1925 under the name of Radioordningen, which was changed to Statsradiofonien in 1926, then to Danmarks Radio in 1959,[5] and to DR in 1996.[6]
During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, radio broadcasts were censored – under particularly harsh conditions from August 1943 – leading many Danes to turn to Danish-language broadcasts from the BBC or the illegal press,[7] as well as Swedish radio in 1944–1945.[5]
Statsradiofonien's second FM radio station, Program 2 (P2), was added in 1951, followed by P3 in 1963.
Experimental television broadcasts started in 1949, with regular programming beginning on 2 October 1951 with the launch of Denmark's first television channel. Daily programming began in 1954.[5] Colour television test broadcasts were started in March 1967, with the first large-scale colour broadcasting occurring for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.[8] Danmarks Radio officially ended its "test" transmissions of colour television on 1 April 1970, although it wasn't until 1978 that the organisation's last black-and-white television programme (TV Avisen—The News) went over to colour.[8]
At 14.00 local time on 16 May 1983 DR launched its first teletext information service, which is still available on all DR channels.[9]
Danmarks Radio's monopoly on national television lasted until 1988, when TV 2 started broadcasting.[10] 8 years later DR launched their second television channel, DR2, on 30 August 1996.[11] It was sometimes called den hemmelige kanal ("the secret channel") in its early years because it could not be seen nationwide at its launch.
The first trials of DAB were carried out in 1995,[12] with eight channels officially launching in October 2002.[13]
On 7 June 2007, DR launched an online-only news channel DR Update.[14] It was later added as a traditional channel. With the switch to over-the-air digital signals on 1 November 2009, DR added three new channels to its lineup[15]
DR K - an intercultural, documentary and "odd-film" channel.
DR HD – Denmark's first free-to-airhigh-definition channel intended to air successful shows from the other DR channels in true HD only, with no upscaling.
In 2013, a new logo in which the letters "DR" featured in a white sans-serif font on a black background was introduced, and the line-up of television channels was changed once again. A new channel targeting young people, DR3 replaced DR HD. Another channel for children, DR Ultra replaced DR Update. The closure of DR Update was the start of a revamping of DR 2 as a channel for news and society.
A nationwide switch from DAB to the newer DAB+ format took place on 1 October 2017.[16] All of DR's stations plus the privately owned, public service channel - Radio24Syv, moved to the second national DAB+ multiplex (DAB-blok 2).
Logo history
DR's first logo used from 1964 to 29 August 1996
DR's second logo used from 30 August 1996 to 31 May 2005.
DR's third and former logo used from 1 June 2005 to 31 August 2009.
DR's fifth and current logo since 1 February 2013.
Financing
The principal means of funding DR is through the media licence, costing 2,492 DKK per year per household since 2017.[17] Traditionally it was the owners of radio and television receiving sets who were obliged to pay the licence fee. The increased availability of online streaming, however, led to the replacement on 1 January 2007 of the television licence by a more widely payable "media licence". This licence is mandatory not just for those with television sets but also for all those who own a computer, smartphone, or any other device enabling access to the internet.[18]
In 2007, approximately 180,000 households did not pay the media licence.[19]
Additional revenue comes from such commercial activities as the mounting of DR-organized concerts and other events in the Koncerthuset, the sale of books, CDs, and DVDs, as well as overseas sales from the catalogue of DR-made programmes.
DR P1 – "Thought-provoking radio": factual programming, reports, discussion and debate on public affairs, society and the community, plus in-depth news.
DR P2 – "Music and cultural radio": classical music, opera, jazz, radio drama, and coverage of other artistic performances and events.
DR P3 – Hit radio, with popular entertainment shows and hourly three-minute news bulletins. P3 also covers major sporting events.
DR P4 – DR's most popular radio channel: a "modern public service station" broadcast in 10 regional versions, mixing popular music with national and local news. P4 also provides a Traffic Message Channel for delivering traffic and travel information.
DR P5 – Focuses on older music from the 1950s and 1960s mixed in with some newer music.
DR P6 Beat – In depth focus on underground and popular music scene.
DR Langbølge - The 243kHz longwave radio is used to cover nearby seas with news and weather broadcasts. The transmissions are only 4 times daily at 05:45, 08:45, 11:45 and 17:45 local time.[22]
Television
DR1 (24h, HD): the main channel, this is the home of drama series (including DR's own high-profiled productions), entertainment shows, films and documentaries, as well as the flagship evening news, sport, and weather programmes.
DR2 (24h, HD): breaking news, documentaries, debate, comedy, and films.
DR Ramasjang (5.00–20.00, HD): TV for children aged 3–6.
Online
DR3 – Innovative programming, chiefly aimed at viewers aged between 15 and 39.
All of Denmark is covered by digital terrestrial reception through a nationwide DVB-T2 and MPEG-4 network comprising five multiplexes (MUX). DR owns MUX 1, which broadcast all DR channels unencrypted. Given the low topography of the Danish mainland and islands, so-called signal overspill is inevitable if every part of the country is to receive coverage. Hence, all DRs' channels are available in northernmost Germany, and Scania the southernmost part of Sweden.
Greenland
Every city in Greenland can receive DR1, DR2 and DR Ramasjang free-to-air via a public DVB-T network.
Faroe Islands
The company, Televarpið, a subsidiary of Faroese Telecom covers the Faroe Islands with a DVB-T network broadcasting DR1, DR2, DR Ramasjang.[23]
Since 1963, DR has awarded the Rosenkjær Prize to a person who has proven an ability to make a difficult subject accessible to a wider audience in an understandable and vivid form. The prizewinner commits to hold a number of radio lectures. The prize is named after Jens Rosenkjær (1883–1976), Head of State Broadcasting 1937–53. The prize is now DKK 50,000, up from 25,000 in 2008, and 40,000 in 2009.[24]
Board of directors
DR's board of directors comprises 11 members appointed for a four-year period. Three members, including the chair, are appointed by the Minister of Culture, and six by Parliament, while the employees of DR elect two members. The board has overall responsibility for DR programs and for the hiring of DR's chief executive, the director general, and the remaining management positions. Their names are unknown.
The former headquarters of DR, Radiohuset on Rosenørns Allé
DR moved in 2006–07 all its activities from Radiohuset in Frederiksberg and TV-Byen in Søborg to a new complex in the Ørestad area of Copenhagen.[25][26] The new building, called DR Byen (the DR city), covers an area of approximately 133,000m2 (1,431,600sqft).[27]
The project became more expensive than planned, forcing DR to make drastic budget cuts.[28] In April 2007, it was announced that 300 employees would be laid off, meaning that most of the sports department would be closed down as well as most of the educational department, several programmes and the radio channel DR X.[29][30] DR would also give up its rights to the Olympic Games and attempt to sell the rights to a number of other sports events including football.[31]
As the major recipient of license funds, DR operates under a public service contract with the government which it was unable to fulfil in the wake of the budget crisis related to the move.[32][33][34] The budget overspends caused a major scandal which saw senior management of DR replaced, and was followed by a heated political debate over whether the service should receive additional emergency funding.[citation needed] Various measures to mitigate the impact on the public service obligations of the institution were contemplated by the Danish Parliament, and a compromise was agreed to limit the impact of the deficit.
Accusations of bias
For over a decade, the Danish People's Party, a nativist[35] and anti-immigrant political party,[36] has criticised DR for alleged bias in its political news coverage, citing the process for appointment to DR's board of directors. In response, DR set up a "watchdog committee" intended to detect and report upon any bias. Members of the watchdog committee are unknown.
The first large-scale scientific content analysis of political news coverage on DR published by the Centre for Journalism at the University of Southern Denmark, studying election news coverage in the years 1994–2007, documented no persistent political bias towards either the left or the right.[37] News coverage of political actors and parties was found to be largely similar to the news coverage on DR's competitor TV 2. The study concluded that political news coverage on both broadcasters was guided by journalistic professional criteria as to the newsworthiness of political actors and political issues, not by partisan considerations.
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
NRK, also known as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organisation in Norway. All other TV channels, broadcast from Norway, were banned between 1960 and 1981. NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen national radio channels on digital terrestrial television, digital terrestrial radio and subscription television. All NRK radio stations are streamed online at NRK.no, which also offers an extensive TV service. NRK is a founding member of the European Broadcasting Union.
Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.
Digital terrestrial television is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' residences in a digital format. DTTV is a major technological advance over the previous analog television, and has largely replaced analog which had been in common use since the middle of the 20th century. Test broadcasts began in 1998 with the changeover to DTTV beginning in 2006 and is now complete in many countries. The advantages of digital terrestrial television are similar to those obtained by digitising platforms such as cable TV, satellite, and telecommunications: more efficient use of limited radio spectrum bandwidth, provision of more television channels than analog, better quality images, and potentially lower operating costs for broadcasters.
Boxer TV Access is a Swedish brand owned by Tele2 AB providing pay television channels on the digital terrestrial television network in Sweden. Modeled on the British ITV Digital, it was founded in October 1999. Some channels on the Swedish DTT are free-to-air, but most of the channels require subscription from Boxer. Boxer has claimed to have around 500,000 subscribers by June 2016 when it was acquired by ComHem.
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription, other ongoing cost, or one-off fee. In the traditional sense, this is carried on terrestrial radio signals and received with an antenna.
Kringvarp Føroya (KvF) is the national public broadcasting company of the Faroe Islands. It was founded on 1 January 2005 after a merger of the national radio and television networks, Útvarp Føroya and Sjónvarp Føroya.
DR2 is the second television channel operated by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) in Denmark. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more "highbrow" programmes than the more mainstream and popular DR1. Like DR's other TV and radio channels, it is funded by a media licence, and is therefore commercial-free.
DR1 is the flagship television channel of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). It became Denmark's first television station when it began broadcasting in 1951 – at first only for an hour a day three times a week.
DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television. DVB has been standardized by ETSI.
Television in Norway was introduced in 1954, but the first television program was only shown in 1958, and regular broadcasts did not start until 1960. Like Denmark, Norway had only one television channel until the 1980s. Some 40% of the population have cable TV, and 30% have satellite TV. Another 30% have terrestrial television only.
Digital terrestrial television in Denmark was technically launched in March 2006 after some years of public trials. The official launch was at midnight on 1 November 2009, when analogue broadcasts ceased nationwide.
Boxer TV A/S is a company that is broadcasting pay television channels on the digital terrestrial television network in Denmark since February 1, 2009. It is a subsidiary of Boxer TV Access, a Swedish company which is owned by Com Hem.
DR Radio was a division of Danish Broadcasting Corporation - DR - concerned with radio programming. The radio stations are now part of several divisions: DR Medier (P1), DR Ung (P3), DR Musik, DR Danmark.
DR K was a Danish free-to-air television channel owned by state broadcaster DR. Its programming was centred towards culture and history.
DR Ramasjang is a Danish television channel owned by DR targeting children aged 3–10.
Digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) is a digital radio transmission technology developed in South Korea as part of the national IT project for sending multimedia such as TV, radio and datacasting to mobile devices such as mobile phones, laptops and GPS navigation systems. This technology, sometimes known as mobile TV, should not be confused with Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) which was developed as a research project for the European Union.
DR P2 – in Denmark normally referred to as simply P2 – is a Danish radio station operated by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. It specializes in classical music, both recorded and in live performance, as well as reporting on and providing discussion of the classical music scene.
DR P1 – in Denmark normally referred to as simply P1 – is a Danish radio station operated by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. P1 has evolved into a pure voice channel with a focus on news, documentaries, political debates, education, general cultural, scientific and social programming.
Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Soldiers of Love" written by Sebastian F. Ovens, Daniel Lund Jørgensen, Katrine Klith Andersen, Søren Bregendal, Johannes Nymark and Martin Skriver. The song was performed by the group Lighthouse X. The Danish broadcaster DR organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2016 in order to select the Danish entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten songs competed in a televised show where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. The results of the first round were decided upon through the combination of jury voting and public voting while in the second round, the winner was selected solely by public televoting. "Soldiers of Love" performed by Lighthouse X was the winner after gaining 42% of the public vote.
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