Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital,

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, as well as regional centres around the country, the service broadcasts an assortment of general programming to a wide national audience via three radio stations:

Rás 1 Rás 1 (; ''Channel 1'') is an Icelandic radio station belonging to and operated by Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), Iceland's national public service broadcaster. Broadcast throughout Iceland on FM (92.4 and 93.5 MHz in Reykjavík), via satellite ...

and Rás 2, also available internationally; Rondó (only available via the Internet and digital radio); and one full-time television channel of the same name. There is also a supplementary, part-time TV channel, RÚV 2, which transmits live coverage of major cultural and sporting events, both domestic and foreign, as required.

History

RÚV began radio broadcasting in 1930 and its first television transmissions were made in 1966. In both cases coverage quickly reached nearly every household in Iceland. RÚV is funded by a broadcast receiving licence fee collected from every income tax payer, as well as from a limited amount of on-air advertising. RÚV has been a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union since 1956. Since 1986, the year in which its

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

as the only permitted domestic broadcaster ended, RÚV has faced competition from a number of private broadcasting companies, most notably the

365 365 may refer to: * 365 (number), an integer * a common year, consisting of 365 calendar days * AD 365, a year of the Julian calendar * 365 BC, a year of the 4th century BC Media outlets * 365 (media corporation), Icelandic TV company * 365 Med ...

corporation.

Programming

RÚV is obliged by the terms of its charter to "promote the Icelandic language, Icelandic history, and Iceland's cultural heritage" and "honour basic democratic rules, human rights, and the freedom of speech and opinion". It carries a substantial amount of arts, media, and current affairs programming, in addition to which it also supplies general entertainment in the form of feature films and such internationally popular television drama series as '' Lost'' and '' Desperate Housewives''. RÚV's lineup also includes sports coverage, documentaries, domestically produced entertainment shows, and children's programming. The RÚV newsroom, providing news for both television and radio, is amongst the most time-honoured and respected in Iceland. On weekdays, the Rás 2 radio network includes 35 minutes of regional

opt-out The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This option is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as e-mail marketing or direct mail. A list of thos ...

s for local news coverage. '' Gettu betur'' is a popular annual quiz tournament pitting teams from senior secondary schools around Iceland against each other in five rounds which are broadcast on radio and TV. Popular viewing also includes the Eurovision Song Contest, to which RÚV has sent participants on Iceland's behalf since 1986. In sports, RÚV traditionally carries live coverage of such major events as the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

and the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, although it lost the right to broadcast the 2006 World Cup, having been outbid by commercial broadcaster

in 2002. It did, however, show the 2010 World Cup tournament.

Services

In accordance with its duty as a public broadcasting service, Sjónvarpið, the television network, broadcasts a news bulletin in

Icelandic Sign Language Icelandic Sign Language ( is, Íslenskt táknmál) is the sign language of the deaf community in Iceland. It is based on Danish Sign Language; until 1910, deaf Icelandic people were sent to school in Denmark, but the languages have diverged sinc ...

for the deaf and hard of hearing. In addition, the

radio channel broadcasts detailed weather reports for Icelandic seafarers and others dependent upon weather conditions.

Television channels

* RÚV Television (also known as ''Sjónvarpið'') – main channel with generalist programming * RÚV 2 – part-time "special events" channel Those who watch television on the internet outside

can only watch selected programs on RÚV and RÚV 2 channels. Except for some television programs, it cannot be watched on internet outside Iceland due to broadcasting rights.

Radio stations

(Channel 1) – News, weather, current affairs, culture * Rás 2 (Channel 2) – Pop and rock music * Rondó – Non-stop classical music and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

(digital and web only)

Transmitters

For its

longwave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

transmissions on 189 kHz, RÚV uses

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

's tallest

radio mast Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

, the Hellissandur longwave radio transmitter. There is a second longwave transmitter on 207 kHz at Eiðar in the east of Iceland. The longwave transmitters are intended to fill gaps in the FM coverage and serve the Icelandic fishing fleet. The television network previously used 180 analogue transmitters, until the

digital switchover The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

in 2015, and is now broadcast over

DVB-T2 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 tele ...

. Rás 1 and 2 have networks of 90 FM transmitters each. Satellite broadcasting started in May 2007 by RÚV from Intelsat 10-02 satellite with a frequency of 11182 V 3100 7/8. Television broadcasts are encrypted (due to rights issues) and

and Rás 2 radio broadcasts are unencrypted. Satellite broadcasts were later moved to the

Thor 5 Thor 5, also known as Thor 2R is a Norwegian communications satellite. It was successfully launched for Telenor atop an International Launch Services Proton-M/ Briz-M carrier rocket, at 11:34 GMT on 11 February 2008. It is based on the STAR- ...

satellite and are contracted to run until 2028.

References

External links

*
About RÚV: official webpage in English

Live Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruv 1930 establishments in Iceland Companies based in Reykjavík European Broadcasting Union members Mass media companies established in 1930 Mass media companies of Iceland Publicly funded broadcasters Radio stations established in 1930 Radio stations in Iceland State media Television channels and stations established in 1966