Since 1949, Danmarks Radio had been the sole provider of television in Denmark, wanting to end the monopoly, the Danish Parliament voted on 30 May 1986, to create TV2, as a second choice for public service television. Upon its establishment, it had first begun its experimental test transmissions, and then, two years later, it had therefore commenced its official broadcast on 1 October 1988, with its first program being Danish Symphony which is broadcast at 17:00, followed by the news at 19:30.
Subscription and overseas availability
From 1 November 2009 all Danish television broadcasting became digital with DVB-T and MPEG4 standard. At the time, TV 2 did not encrypt their main channel, but TV 2 ZULU, TV 2 CHARLIE, TV 2 FRI, TV 2 NEWS and TV 2 SPORT are subscription only channels. Although the main channel had been broadcast terrestrially in the clearever since the channel was launched, this ended on 11 January 2012 when it was encrypted and required with a monthly subscription charge of 12.50 Danish Kroner required to be paid, along with the purchase or rental of a decoder In southernmost Sweden and northernmost Germany, this means significant difficulties for their viewers in Germany and Sweden, as subscribers need a Danish postal address for ordering a decoder card. However, the channel is still available in Sweden through subscription to pay-TV services such as Com Hem and Telia. Also a special agreement between TV 2 and Kabel Deutschland has been made, that it is now available digitally in the cable television network of Vodafone Kabel Deutschland in northernmost Germany since 15 December 2011 and to keep it unencrypted there. The analogue transmission of TV 2 in the aforementioned german cable network ceased 31 Januar 2012 in the specific regions where it had been available before and was replaced with a german channel. It is also available through pay-TV subscription in Norway through Canal Digital, Viasat, and Get.
Regions
Programming
On weekdays, TV 2 starts with Go'morgen Danmark, Denmark's only breakfast talk show on national TV. At 11:00 they hand over to the regions who broadcast to 12:30. That is followed by TV 2's afternoon programming that mostly consists of American drama series and sitcoms. The regional stations also broadcast bulletins in the afternoon and evening, as well as a longer newscast at 19:30. TV 2's main national newscasts are shown at 19:00 and 22:00 but bulletins in the morning, at 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00 have been added over the years. In common with other TV channels in Denmark, most foreign programmes on TV 2, as well as interviews originally conducted in a foreign language, are shown in their original language with Danish subtitles, the exception being animated series aimed at children which are dubbed.
Funding
Historically TV 2 was funded by television license fees and advertising sales. However, although the regional channels are still partly funded this way, funding by television license for the main channel ended in July 2004. This form of double financing, along with a large injection of capital from the Danish State, is currently under investigation by the EU; accusations being that the dual funding has constituted illegal state aid.
Website
In the first half of 2020 the website tv2.dk was one of the most popular and reliable sources in Danish Wikipedia. According to third-party web analytics providers Alexa and SimilarWeb, the website tv2.dk is the 15th and 9th most visited in Denmark respectively, as of July 2020.
