PART OF EUROPEAN TREND : DANISH TV VIEWERS WILL GET A SECOND CHANNEL

Danish viewers are about to get some variety in their staid TV diet with a commercial channel that will break the 60-year one-channel monopoly.

TV2’s beginnings will be modest, with only 2 1/2 hours of national air time a day plus regional programming. But it represents a shift in Danish media policy and came after long years of agonizing over the benefits and evils of advertising.

The new channel may be part of a coming trend in Europe, where independent television is still rare and where broadcasters are often funded by governments.

Commercial TV in Europe was first seen in Britain in 1955. It reached Italy in 1974 and France 10 years later. In West Germany, independent stations are struggling financially and are seen by only 10% of the viewing public.

Although TV2 will be independent from Danmarks Radio, the state broadcasting authority, it, too, will be under partial public control. The state will provide one-third of its $45 million budget; a five-man supervisory board will be appointed by the government.

However, expectations are high among a public weary of Danmarks Radio’s daily fare, described by media critic Philip Thierry as “very cautious, very dull.”

A typical day’s viewing is comprised of educational and children’s programs in the afternoon, a half-hour newscast, a documentary or a public affairs program and ends with local entertainment or culture. Sign-off is around 11:30 p.m.

Danes can switch over to Swedish, Norwegian or German TV, but the programs are much the same. Private local television stations have been experimentally operating since 1983, and programs range from movies to Christian worship to bingo games.

Private satellite dishes are prohibited because the government is building a public cable network. Police sometimes raid homes to confiscate illegal antennas hidden in the garden, although exemptions are granted.

TV2, which is due to start broadcasting in October, 1988, could be a boon for dormant talents in the Danish film and video industry.

“The TV2 prospects will really stimulate film production. New companies appear all the time. We expect film production to be doubled,” said Erik Crone, head of a new association of film producers.

Crone said producers are waiting to see what kind of programs TV2 wants to produce.

“It could mean a quality boom for Danish film production, but that depends on what the goals will be,” he said. “There is a risk it will emphasize superficial entertainment.”

“The competition will most likely result in a highest-bid policy to offer the most popular entertainment, which won’t make it any broader,” said Karsten Fledelius, assistant professor at the Institute for Film Science at Copenhagen University.

Danmarks Radio says it doesn’t mind the competition. “We think it is positive; it offers alternatives and might stimulate quality efforts,” said Henrik Antonsen, the station’s program director.

The managing director of the new station, Joergen Schleimann, hopes he will have something new to offer the 5.1 million Danes.

“TV2 has been created after a push to find talented people outside the circles and areas where they have been found up to now,” he said.

Broadcasting will include a half-dozen regional stations in addition to the national station broadcast from Odense on Funen Island, 84 miles west of Copenhagen.

“There is a need for local TV stations, as there has been a need for both national and local newspapers. There is no reason to believe there is no cultural life in the provinces,” Schleimann said.

While polls show that a majority of Danes favor commerical financing, Parliament was evenly split on the issue, causing lengthy delays until the TV2 bill was passed a year ago.

“We are in principle against television advertising,” said Bernhard Tastesen, Social Democratic media spokesman. He said the U.S. experience showed that the wealthy could afford ad-free cable, “while a poor, folksy culture grows in the shadow of advertising.”

TV2 board member Niels-Joergen Kaiser said commercials will be aired nationwide in two blocks of five minutes each and another five-minute regional block. They will be managed separately from the program operation “to avoid the discussion that the advertisers influence the programming,” he said.