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 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 pop ...

, 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 and

Rás 2 Rás 2 (''Channel 2'') is an Icelandic radio station belonging to the National Icelandic Broadcasting Service, RÚV. Launched on 1 December 1983, it is currently the highest-rated radio station in Iceland, with a schedule composed chiefly of ne ...

, 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 The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

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 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 ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a to ...

''. 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

radio network includes 35 minutes of regional opt-outs for local news coverage. ''

Gettu betur ''Gettu betur'' () is an Icelandic team quiz show, broadcast on public television channel RÚV. Each team consists of three students from one of Iceland's high schools or colleges. Two teams play against each other in each episode. Two preliminar ...

'' 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 multi ...

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 List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

, although it lost the right to broadcast the 2006 World Cup, having been outbid by commercial broadcaster 365 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 for the deaf and hard of hearing. In addition, the Rás 1 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

* Rás 1 (Channel 1) – News, weather, current affairs, culture *

(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 majo ...

(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 ...

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission ** ...

s 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, 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 con ...

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 A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

started in May 2007 by RÚV from

Intelsat 10-02 Intelsat 10-02 (or IS 10-02, Intelsat 1002, IS-1002, Intelsat Alpha-2, Intelsat X-02 and Thor 10-02 ) is a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Intelsat 10-02 is the first operational communications satellite to have its service life ...

satellite with a frequency of 11182 V 3100 7/8. Television broadcasts are encrypted (due to rights issues) and Rás 1 and

radio broadcasts are unencrypted. Satellite broadcasts were later moved to the Thor 5 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