Country Iceland | ||
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Type Broadcast television channel Availability National; also partially distributed over the Internet and on Thor 5 Owner RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service Key people Magnús Geir Þórðarson, CEO Launch date 30 September 1966; 50 years ago (1966-09-30) | ||
RÚV (named Sjónvarpið (English: 'The TV') before 31 March 2011) is the television channel of RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, launched in 1966. The channel broadcasts primarily news, sports, cultural programs, children's material, American, British & Nordic films and entertainment programming. Among its highest-rated programs are the comedy sketch show Spaugstofan (now revoked and moved to Stöð 2) and Fréttir (News).
Contents
History
The network made its first transmission on 30 September 1966. To begin with, transmissions only took place on Wednesdays and Fridays, only gradually expanding to the rest of the week through the years, but there were no transmissions on Thursdays. In addition, no television was broadcast in July. Transmissions in July began in 1983. Having lost its monopoly and sharing the market with Stöð 2 a year before, Sjónvapið ended the era of television-free Thursdays on 1 October 1987, resulting in the first full week of television in Iceland.
Test colour transmission commenced in 1973 and started full-time in 1976. From September 1981 onwards, the channel greatly benefited from Iceland's connection to the rest of the world via satellite. Starting on March 1, 1982, Icelandic television viewers were able to watch daily reports from abroad on their evening newscast. Live broadcasts from the rest of Europe, such as the Eurovision Song Contest, commenced for the first time in May 1986. RÚV's teletext service, Textavarp, was inaugurated on the 25th anniversary of Icelandic television in 1991.
As late as 2000, television only aired for 9 hours each day, starting at 4.35pm and ending at 1.35am. The number of hours of television aired per week has advanced since then, with transmissions currently starting at 8am on Saturdays and Sundays. During the week, however, television transmissions starts at 3pm and ends at 1:30am. During downtime, the station carries its daily schedule and a news ticker, complete with audio from Rás 2 (Channel 2).
Test cards
From the inauragration of Sjónvarpið in 1966 until as late as 1982, an electronically generated, heavily modified version of the Philips PM5540 monochrome test card was utilized after closedown. In the early 1970s, the Philips PM5544 test card was introduced for colour transmissions and gradually replaced the previous monochrome test card, with the time and date included in the PM5544 test card from 1995-2000 and again from 2002-2006. In 2009, the Philips PM5644 widescreen test card was introduced to replace its PM5544 forerunner. In 2011 the testcard was discontinued.
High Definition
In 2012 two new 1080i play-out systems were installed.
On 27 March 2013 RÚV signed an agreement with Vodafone Iceland to install and run two new digital HD channels starting in 2014 that will transmit both over the air on UHF in 720p and via IPTV systems of Síminn and Vodafone Iceland. Analog TV transmission on VHF will end before end of the year 2014.