(; KVF) is the national

public broadcasting Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

company of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. It was founded on 1 January 2005 after a merger of the national radio and television networks and .

History

Útvarp Føroya

("Radio of the Faroe Islands"; ÚF) was founded in 1957, under the station's first director Axel Tórgarð. Niels Juel Arge took over the position in 1960 and remained until 1990. Prior to the establishment of , the

Faroese people Faroese people or Faroe Islanders (; ) are an ethnic group native to the Faroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins. About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Most ...

could only listen to foreign radio stations. These included the National Norwegian Radio Station, often referred to as ("the Norwegian", "the man from Norway"), and the BBC World Service. These stations were mainly used for daily weather forecasts.

Sjónvarp Føroya

("Television of the Faroe Islands"; SvF) was founded in 1984. It was the only public TV station in the country, and broadcast some content in Faroese. The history of SvF goes back to the 1960s. In 1969, the

Faroese parliament Faroese ( ) or Faroish ( ) may refer to anything pertaining to the Faroe Islands, e.g.: * the Faroese language * the Faroese people * the Faroese islands {{Disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

decided to create an organisation for developing TV facilities on the islands under public law. A 1978 law set into motion the establishment of the network, which was founded as in 1981. A furniture store in the capital

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of th ...

was converted into a TV studio in 1983. On 1 April 1984 the first Faroese programme was launched; however, private local TV associations had been transmitting for six years. The regular operation of SVF started on 1 September of that same year. In spring 1985, the former freelancers of Faroese TV were engaged as staff by the Faroese government. Since 1990, other nearby buildings have been bought in order to enhance the network's premises. In December 2002, the Faroe Islands became the first country in the world to completely disconnect of its analogue television signals, which had used the PAL standard, in favour of the digital

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Fe ...

standard. By law, SvF had a goal of broadcasting one-third of its programmes in Faroese. Other programmes were mostly taken from Danmarks Radio (DR) and were subtitled, with Danish audio. In 2003, 27 percent of the SvF's programmes were in Faroese. Apart from children's programmes, SVF's own production consisted mainly of news and topical magazine items.

Kringvarp Føroya

In 2005, the SvF and ÚF were merged into the current company, which is funded by a combination of television licence fees,

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

, and a bingo (called , or "the Joker"). The television division of the has only one channel, with some programming coming from DR and TV 2 in Denmark. It also produces its own content, including Faroese news, which is called ("Day and Week"); children's TV; and some cultural and sports broadcasting. Additional stations are available from , the only local pay-TV provider, which is a digital terrestrial service.

Satellite TV Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

from foreign providers is also popular.

References

External links