Stöð 3 was an

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 ...

ic television channel which launched on 24 November 1995, but shut down in February 1997, when it merged with

Stöð 2 Stöð 2, literally Station 2, was an Icelandic subscription television channel. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in Iceland following the lifting of the state monopoly on television broadcasting. Sister chan ...

and Sýn. Its owner was Íslenska sjónvarpið hf, whose shareholders were

Morgunblaðið ''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic daily newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland. It is currently the country's only daily printed newspaper and the newspaper of record. Hi ...

's publisher Árvakur, Nýherji, Sambíóin, Japis and Texti; in total, there were 15 shareholders, none of which held more than 10% of the shares. Its first administrative director was Úlfar Steindórsson, followed by Heimir Karlsson (who took over in August 1996) and its last was Magnús E. Kristjánsson.

Background and history

The plan to create the channel began in 1988, when Ísfilm hf showed interest. Ísfilm was owned by SÍS, Haust hf (owned by Indriði G. Þorsteinsson, Jóns Hermannssonar and Ágústs Guðmundssonar, Almenna bókafélagið, Dagblaðið Tíminn, Frjáls fjölmiðlun hf and Jón Aðalsteinn Jónsson. Ísfilm originally had Morgunblaðið and Reykjavík's respective publishing companies. But Ísfilm was never involved in the channel's operations, because of negotiations involving the possibility of using the same decoders as

, which never came into fruition. Seven years later, ''Íslenska sjónvarpið'' revived the idea of Stöð 3. There were constant problems since the Ísfilm plan, mainly to obtain its own decoders and subscribers. This situation persisted after November 1995, with the definitive launch of the channel, hampering potential income. Its output largely consisted of international entertainment, mainly American, but also relayed content from other channels, such as CNN International, MTV, Discovery Channel and Eurosport. In October 1996, the owner filed for administration and sold it to Íslensk margmiðlun hf. A scandal erupted in January 1997 in which five Stöð 2 breached Stöð 3 subscriber data. The following month, Stöð 2 announced the merger of Stöð 3 and its shutdown. On 25 February 1997, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, voiced his concern for the merger.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stod 3 Television channels in Iceland Television channels and stations established in 1995 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1997 Companies based in Reykjavík