TV and radio services to be affected, widespread criticism         

Following the decision (reported by the AIB on 24 April) by a majority of Danish parties to scrap the licence fee (currently £300 or €339) and to cut DR’s budget, the broadcaster’s director general, Maria Rørbye Rønn, presented the plan to implement the required cuts on 18 September.

Rønn warned that savings of this scale would result in Danmarks Radio producing and broadcasting fewer hours of Danish-language television.

Services and jobs cuts       

The cuts will mean 375-400 job losses, including 25 managerial positions, she said.

DR will reduce the number of its TV channels from six to three. The main general interest channel DR1, will continue as it is, DR3, the innovative channel aimed at viewers in the 15-39 age group, and the children channel DR Ultra will become streaming services by 2020, while cultural channel DRK will be merged with DR2, the channel for breaking news, documentaries, debate, comedy and movies, according to a DR press release.

The radio stations P6 Beat, P7 Mix and P8 Jazz will also all close owing to the budget cuts reducing the number of radios from eight to five.

“The background (to this) is both the necessary cuts and ensuring that DR can place even more focus on conversion to digital. In terms of content, we will now focus even more on our strengths. All in all, these are relatively drastic changes, but we think we’re on the right path,” Rønn said.

High-value TV programmes met with international acclaim      

DR TV programmes, such as the widely-acclaimed crime series The Bridge (Broen / Bron – coproduced with Sweden’s Sveriges Television), the political drama Borgen or the police series The Killing (Forbrydelsen), to name the best-known series onlyhave won many international awards and nominations. DR collaborates with other public service broadcasters within the Nordvision regional partnership, which produces and distributes programmes in the region and abroad. The cut is likely to have an impact on Nordvision.

Widespread criticism in Denmark and beyond

The Danish English-language newspaper The Local reported that “commentators in the Danish media industry, as well as opposition politicians, criticised the cuts after details of their implementation and associated job losses were announced. Commentators in the Danish media industry, as well as opposition politicians, condemned the cuts after details of their implementation and associated job losses were announced.

For its part, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Executive Board issued a statement expressing “concern over the Danish Government’s new public service contract with Danmarks Radio (Danish public radio and television) that will dramatically restrict the organization’s scope and range of programming and remit. 

“The EBU Executive Board is concerned at political attempts to drastically narrow and alter the accepted broad remit of public service media,” the statement said.

“The 20 percent budget cuts imposed on DR will undoubtedly impact its ability as a national broadcaster to offer the same wide range of output to audiences across Denmark,” EBU Director General Noel Curran said.