Danish public broadcaster DR has announced the imminent closure of three TV channels and three radio stations, due to a 20% reduction of tis budget..
DR’s six TV channels will be reduced to three and radio channels will drop from eight to five. At the same time, around 400 positions will be axed.
DR3 and DR Ultra will be reduced to streaming services by 2020, while cultural channel DRK will be merged with second station DR2.
The announcement follows the decision by the Danish government to abandon the radio and TV licence fee last March.
“A political decision has been taken to reduce DR’s expenditure by 20 percent. That will be tough, but we have taken on the challenge,” according to DR director general Maria Rørbye Rønn.
“The background is both the necessary cuts and to ensure 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,”
Commnenting on the budget cuts, EBU Director General Noel Curran said: “We are deeply concerned by the budget cuts that have forced DR to announce the closure of a significant number of public media services.
“DR is hugely valued by audiences in Denmark and has built amongst the highest market share and weekly reach of all public service media organisations in Europe.
“The 20% 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.”
