Stöð 2, literally Station 2, was an Icelandic

subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channel. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

following the lifting of the state monopoly on television broadcasting. Sister channels under the Stöð 2 name include Stöð 2 Sport and Stöð 2 Bíó. Stöð 2 was the second-oldest private television station in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

, after

MTV3 MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It was last operated by Sýn, until it was discontinued in favour of the Sýn brand in 2025.

History

New media laws of 1986

During the big BSRB strike in the fall of 1984, almost all of

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

's activities shut down and several illegal radio stations sprung up. As a result, consideration was given to revising the broadcasting laws during the tenure of Minister of Education Ragnhildar Helgadóttir. A new law, which allowed private radio and television stations, was approved by

Alþingi The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...

on June 13, 1985, and came into effect at the beginning of 1986. Until that time, there had been two radio stations and one television station operating in Iceland, Rás 1 and Rás 2 and Ríkissjónvarpið.

Start of Stöð 2

Stöð 2 went on the air on October 9 that same year as a subscription station with a scrambled program where the subscriber had to buy a code number and enter a video code to unscramble the broadcast. Television presenter Jón Óttar and Vala Matt were prominent on the screen during the first days of the station. The line-up was made up of imported entertainment, dramatized Icelandic entertainment and news. It was difficult to get investors to participate in the activity to begin with. At the beginning of 1987, there were about five thousand subscribers, but by the end of the year there had been almost thirty thousand. At the same time, the number of employees increased and the station began to compete with RÚV for programmers and reporters, which was considered unheard of.

Unification of the brand

Many sister stations were operated under the same company, but in 2008 they were all united under the name of Stöð 2, thus the sports station Sýn became Stöð 2 Sport. Sirkus became Stöð 2 Extra and Fjölvarpið became Stöð 2 Fjölvarp, on the other hand, Stöð 2 Bíó kept its name.

Transition to Sýn

On June 12, 2025, Sýn rebranded all of its divisions, including Stöð 2 to the Sýn name.

Programming

Recurring

* ''Fréttir'', an evening news program, every evening at 6:30 pm * ''Ísland í dag'', a daily magazine covering various aspects of life in Iceland such as politics, culture and entertainment. It also includes

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

and

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

Other original programming

* '' Spaugstofan'' (comedy) * '' Vegferð'' (comedy) * '' Black Sands'' (drama) * ''

Réttur ''Réttur'' (, ''Right'') is an Icelandic television series created and produced by Sigurjón Kjartansson of RVK Studios, retitled ''Case'' and ''The Court'' in English-language markets. It was picked up by NBC and producer Howard Gordon for a U ...

'', a legal drama series * '' Viltu vinna milljon?'' (Icelandic version of ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

'') * '' Idol stjörnuleit'' (Icelandic version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' and related shows) * ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' (Icelandic version) * ''

Dagvaktin ''Dagvaktin'' () is a sequel to the Icelandic television series ''Næturvaktin''. It is the second of the three series in the trilogy. The three main characters from ''Næturvaktin'', Georg Bjarnfreðarson (Jón Gnarr Jón Gnarr (; born Jón ...

'' (sitcom) * ''

Fangavaktin ''Fangavaktin'' () is the sequel to the Icelandic television series '' Dagvaktin'' and the final series in the trilogy. The three main characters from ''Næturvaktin'', Georg Bjarnfreðarson (Jón Gnarr), Ólafur Ragnar ( Pétur Jóhann Sigfússo ...

'', a comedy series continuation of ''

Næturvaktin ''Næturvaktin'' () is an Icelandic television series. It is the first in a trilogy, its sequels being ''Dagvaktin'' () and ''Fangavaktin'' (). The series was first shown in 2007 on Stöð 2, on Sundays from 16 September to 9 December. In th ...

'' and ''

'' * ''

'' (sitcom) * '' Fóstbræður'' (sketch comedy) * '' Sjálfstætt fólk'', an interview and talk show hosted by Jón Ársæll Þórðarson * ''Eldsnöggt með Jóa Fel'', cooking show * ''Logi í Beinni'', an Icelandic Talk show hosted by

Logi Bergmann Eiðsson Logi Bergmann Eiðsson (born 2 December 1966) is an Icelandic television host, news anchor and reporter. He worked for the public broadcaster Sjónvarpið before his move to private channel Stöð 2 in 2005. He later started work at Sjónvarp Sím ...

* ''Ástríður'' * ''Auddi og sveppi'' * ''Algjör sveppi'' * ''Einu sinni var..., "Once Upon A Time", a history show * ''Strákarnir'', comedy * ''Það var lagið'', talent show * ''Meistarinn'', quiz show, hosted by

* ''Stelpurnar'', sketch show * ''Veggfóður'', show about design and lifestyle. Hosted by Vala Matt and Hálfdán Steinþórsson * ''Réttur'' * ''Pressa'' * ''Silfur Egils'', Sunday talkshow with interviews of those who made the news in the past week * ''Kompás'', A weekly newsmagazine * ''Svínasúpan'' They have also aired other shows which were dubbed in the Icelandic language, such as "

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...

" (which was also shown on RÚV), " Kum Kum", " Yogi Bear", and many more.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stod 2 Television channels in Iceland Television channels and stations established in 1986 Companies based in Reykjavík