Denmark

[DK] The Media Agreement for 2011-2014

IRIS 2010-8:1/25

Elisabeth Thuesen

Law Department, Copenhagen Business School

On 26 May 2010, an agreement focused on quality and diversity in radio and television was reached between the Danish Government and the political parties Dansk Folkeparti (Danish popular party) and Liberal Alliance on the media policy for the coming four years. The radio and TV legislation shall be amended correspondingly during the parliamentary session 2010/2011. The agreement shall come into force for the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2014. The main features of the agreement are as follows:

- The agreement intends to expose the public service radio channel DR (Danmarks Radio) to more competition in order to augment the quality of its programmes and to give more choice in programmes to viewers;

- To this end, a tender concerning the establishment of a new private radio channel with public service obligations, FM 4, shall be organised. The new channel shall comply with a range of requirements for achieving a qualified level;

- The outsourcing of the production of programmes to commercial producers shall be intensified;

- A test of new services offered by the DR channel shall be introduced in order to evaluate their importance for the public and to observe the influence of the services on the market;

- The number of permitted broadcasting hours for the regional broadcasters shall be increased. The national TV 2 broadcaster however shall not receive more time for its regional broadcasting programmes. The intention is to strengthen the position for the regional broadcasters in relation to TV 2;

- The obligations for viewers to adhere to a communal aerial system shall be reduced, in order to enable viewers’ access to a wider variety of broadcast programmes;

- Product placement in programmes shall be permitted, in order to place Danish broadcasters on an equal footing with foreign broadcasters.

The possibility of granting particular resources to the DR for improving news and music programmes and for producing film dramas on the history of Denmark is also currently being considered.