Stöð 2
Stöð 2 (literally Station 2) is an Icelandic subscription television channel, owned and operated by Sýn. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in Iceland 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 is the second oldest private television station in the Nordic countries, after MTV3 in Finland.
Country | Iceland |
---|---|
Programming | |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to 576i for the SD feed) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Sýn |
History | |
Launched | 9 October 1986 |
Links | |
Website | Official Site |
History
New media laws of 1986
During the big BSRB strike in the fall of 1984, almost all of RÚV'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 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 station 2, thus the sports station became Sýn a Stöð 2 Sport. Sirkus became Stöð 2 Extra and Fjölvarpið became Stöð 2 Fjölvarp, on the other hand, Stöð 2 Bíó kept its name.
Current Programming
News
Animation
Anthology
Clip Shows
Comedy
Drama
Lifestyle
News
Reality
Science fiction
Soap Operas
Past Programming
Children's Shows
Comedy
Drama
- Réttur, a legal drama series
Game shows
- Viltu vinna milljon?, the Icelandic version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
News
- Kompás, A weekly newsmagazine
- Silfur Egils, Sunday talkshow with interviews of those who made the news in the past week
Reality
- Idol stjörnuleit, the Icelandic version of Pop Idol and related shows
- The X Factor, the Icelandic version
Sitcoms
- Dagvaktin
- Fangavaktin, a comedy series continuation of Næturvaktin and Dagvaktin
- Næturvaktin
Sketch Shows
Talk Shows
- Sjálfstætt fólk, an interview and talk show hosted by Jón Ársæll Þórðarson
Animation
- Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
- Alvin & The Chipmunks
- American Dad!
- The Angry Beavers
- Animaniacs
- Beware the Batman
- Bob the Builder
- Care Bears
- CatDog
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
- The Cleveland Show
- Count Duckula
- Curious George
- Danny Phantom
- Dexter's Laboratory
- Ducktales
- Goof Troop
- Looney Tunes
- Muppet Babies
- Pingu
- Pokémon
- Popeye the Sailor
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Recess
- The Ren & Stimpy Show
- Rocko's Modern Life
- Rugrats
- The Simpsons
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Thundercats
- Timon & Pumbaa
- Tom and Jerry Tales
- Zou
Anthology
Children's Shows
Clip Shows
Comedy
- Ally McBeal
- The Bold Type
- Bones
- Chuck
- Desperate Housewives
- Drop Dead Diva
- Eastbound & Down
- Early Edition
- Entourage
- Episodes
- Girls
- Glee
- The Good Guys
- Harry's Law
- Huff
- Hung
- Monk
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
- Pushing Daisies
- Rescue Me
- The Righteous Gemstones
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
- Veep
- Weeds
- Whose Line is it Anyway?
- The Wonder Years
Documentary
Drama
- 24
- Afterlife
- Angel
- Arrow
- Bancroft
- Big Little Lies
- Boardwalk Empire
- Boss
- Breaking Bad
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Burn Notice
- Chase
- The Closer
- Cold Case
- Covert Affairs
- Cracker
- Crossing Lines
- Deception
- Deep Water
- The Detail
- Doctor Doctor
- Eleventh Hour
- ER
- Felicity
- Game of Thrones
- Ghost Whisperer
- The Glades
- Gossip Girl
- Grimm
- The Guardian
- Hawthorne
- Homeland
- Homicide: Life on the Street
- Hotel Babylon
- House of Saddam
- Human Target
- In Treatment
- John from Cincinnati
- Kevin Hill
- The Killing
- Lie to Me
- Little House on the Prairie
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
- Mad Men
- The Man from Snowy River
- Medium
- The Mentalist
- Mercy
- Miami Medical
- Mile High
- Missing
- Moonlight
- Murder One
- Murder, She Wrote
- Nashville
- NCIS: Los Angeles
- The Newsroom
- Nikita
- Nip/Tuck
- Numbers
- NYPD Blue
- The O.C.
- Off the Map
- Peak Practice
- Pretty Little Liars
- Prison Break
- Rescue 911
- Rizzoli & Isles
- Rome
- Shark
- The Shield
- Sisters
- Six
- Six Feet Under
- Smallville
- Smash
- The Sopranos
- Southland
- Strong Medicine
- Supernatural
- Third Watch
- Tin Star
- Touch
- True Blood
- The Tudors
- Twin Peaks
- White Collar
- Wildfire
- The Wire
Game Shows
Lifestyle
Mini-series
Reality
- The Amazing Race
- American Idol
- America's Got Talent
- The Apprentice
- Beauty and the Geek
- The Block
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
- The Glee Project
- Hell's Kitchen
- Hell's Kitchen USA
- Man vs. Wild
- MasterChef
- MasterChef Australia
- MasterChef Canada
- MasterChef Ireland
- MasterChef South Africa
- MasterChef USA
- Most Haunted
- The Osbournes
- Punk'd
- So You Think You Can Dance
- Strictly Come Dancing
- Wife Swap
- The X Factor USA
Science fiction
Sitcoms
- 'Til Death
- 2 Broke Girls
- ALF
- Anger Management
- Arrested Development
- Ben and Kate
- The Bernie Mac Show
- Better Off Ted
- Better with You
- The Big Bang Theory
- The Bill Engvall Show
- Catastrophe
- Cougar Town
- Ellen
- Flight of the Conchords
- Frasier
- Gavin & Stacey
- George Lopez
- Home Improvement
- How I Met Your Mother
- Joey
- Last Man Standing
- Listen Up
- Malcolm in the Middle
- Married... with Children
- The Middle
- Mike & Molly
- Modern Family
- My Life in Film
- My Name Is Earl
- The New Adventures of Old Christine
- Off Centre
- Perfect Couples
- Raising Hope
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch
- Seinfeld
- Spin City
- Two and a Half Men
- Up All Night
- The War at Home