Radio broadcasting begins in Finland
• Before independence: “Flying messages by wireless air
telegraph” (langaton lennättäminen ilmatelegraafilla) at the
turn of the century between Kotka and Suursaari
• Radio amateurs developed clandestine activities in Helsinki
and Tampere
• During the Civil War the White Civil Guards (Suojeluskunnat)
took over the radio equipment left behind by the Russian
army
• Spark telegraph corporation (Kipinälennätinlaitos. 1919)
• 1919 radio law:
– only the state may build and use radio broadcasting equipment.
– private bodies may apply for rights for max.10 years at a time.
– Government bodies grant broadcasting licenses and supervise
activities
• The supreme command of the Civil Guards
(Suojeluskuntien yliesikunta) began
broadcasting in Helsinki
• Nuoren Voiman Liitto began broadcasting in
1921
• Radio associations began to crop up → 1254
radio transmitters by 1924
• Finnish Radio Society issues a statement: “In
the name of sound development all attempts
toward creating a broadcasting monopoly
should be resisted.”
A meeting called to solve the ”broadcasting
question” 10.10.1924
• Organizers: radio equipment traders who have sponsored
broadcasting, radio amateurs and the Journalist
Association (Sanomalehtimiesyhdistys)
• It was agreed unanimously that it was necessary to start
a national broadcasting corporation
• A committee was set which representatives of relevant
ministries were invited to join
• Within a year the committee made a proposition about
beginning nationwide broadcasting
The proposals of the committee
• Technical facilities should be created by the
state
• A company in a monopoly position should be
in charge of programming
• The company should be widely representative
of different factions of the society
• The programmes should be non-partial and
educational
• The programmes should reach the entire
nation, both technically and in terms of
content
• The needs of rural areas should be especially
taken care of
• News broadcasting should be organized in
close operation with newspaper organizations,
the Finnish News Bureau (STT) and the News
Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• A reasonable licence fee would be charged
and shared between the state and the holder
of the charter.
• During time of war and natural disasters the
state may take over broadcasting activities
O.y. Yleisradio A.b. is founded in 1926
In preparing and organizing programming the aim of
the company is to promote national education,
communicate useful information, provide edifying and
innocent entertainment taking particularly into
consideration the needs of those living far outside
commercial centres and generally the dispensing of
knowledge and artistic achievements accumulated in
centres of culture to the wider population of our
country. The needs of both linguistic groups should be
taken into consideration in organizing programming
The monopoly is strengthened
• 1934 radio law: Yleisradio gained ownership of
all radio transmitters in the country
• The state share of the stock was 90 %
• According to the law charters could be
granted to other corporations, but in a
separate agreement between the state and
YLE the state agreed not to do so
• In an agreement covering years 1935-39 YLE
was entitled to keep the licence fees entirely
Rapid expansion
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By 1939 more than 333 000 licenses
First sound recording equipment in1935
Magnetophones from 1939
First ”sound car” 1937 → broadcasts from
outside the studio
• Keeping up national feeling and serving as a
source of information during the wars
After the war
• Hella Wuolijoki serves as the managing director
• ”Hellaradio” leftist sympathies cause irritation
• According 1948 ”Lex Jahvet” YLE becomes
subordinate to the Parliament in order to secure
democratic control
• The first ”great normalization”: Wuolijoki is replaced
by Einar Sundström
• Programming is to be neutral and provide
enlightenment, entertainment and news
Beginning of television broadcasting
• First experimental television broadcast in 1950 at
Stockmann’s
• Experimental broadcasts by the Radio Engineers’
Association in 1955
• Tekniikan Edistämissäätiö (TES) began regular broadcasts
in 1956. Commercial basis was formed in 1959 as Oy
Tesvisio Ab
• TES-TV Charter served as a licence for broadcasting also in
Tampere and Turku. Activities in Tampere were
consolidated by forming Tamvision Tuki Oy in 1961
• YLE begins experimental broadcasts in 1957 under the
name Suomen Televisio (STV) and regular programmes
early the following year
• Founding of Oy Mainos-TV-Reklam Ab in 1957. MTV
rented broadcasting time from STV. Leasing charge
was to be negotiated annually
• STV began news broadcasts in 1959
• Programmes on every day of the year since 1962
• Tesvision fails in the competition for advertising
revenue and is unable to invest and further expand
its activities
• In January 1964 YLE bought Tesvision as well as
Tamvision. The latter formed the basis of YLE’s
second channel
• Competition in programming was virtually abolished
News on television
• STV begins broadcasting news by reading bulletins provided
by the Finnish News Bureau
• ”Camera rounds” (kamerakierrokset) provided images of
outside activities
• News magazines from autumn 1962
• From 1965 daily two Finnish and one Swedish language news
broadcasts
• After TV2 is started the main news are broadcast
simultaneously at 20.30
• Plans for a specifically designed news studio
• Material from abroad on film, usually with at least three days
delay
Early programming
• STV lead in broadcasting time given to children’s
programmes (15,5%)
• Foreign fiction and current affairs (both 14, 4%),
• Tesvisio: entertainment (23.9%), foreign fiction
(15,2%)
• Tesvision began lifestyle programming, the quiz show
Tupla tai kuitti and Levyraati (modelled after the
British Juke Box Jury), both eventually taken over by
MTV
• Television theatre was thought of as culturally
democratic element
Programming becomes standardised
• Pertti ’Spede’ Pasanen produces sketch entertainment
for MTV: 300 episodes in 1964-1974 and then 1984-87
and later on Speden Spelit -contest programme.
• Hannes Häyrinen in Kaverukset (1962-65) and Hanski
(1966-1973) – the former modelled afer Hancock’s Half
Hour (BBC).
• Sitcoms: Me Tammelat, Naapurilähiö
• TV2:n ”entertaining serial drama”: Heikki ja Kaija (19611976) Rintamäkeläiset (1972-1978)
• Series related to domestic and foreign politics such as
Sodan ja rauhan miehet (1978-79)
“Repo radio”
• Eino S. Repo become the director general of YLE in 1965
• YLE leadership become increasingly left wing
• “Informational programming policy” with the purpose of
providing intellectual stimuli to the audience
• Vote of non-confidence to Repo because of ”morally
substandard programmes” which have undermined social
structures and “desecrated holy values and activities”
• A similar vote of non-confidence in the Parliament
YLE makes a long term plan
• A committee including Kaarle Nordenstreng, Yrjö Ahmavaara
and Pertti Hemánus was set up to draft a long term plan
• Informative broadcasting was to be critical, i.e. it should
promote ”progressive ideas”
• Concept of ”agenda setting”: media has the power to
determine what is being discussed
• Nordenstreng: ”Mass communication, from advertising to
news broadcasts, functions as a means of manipulation and
guidance”
• Programming guidelines (ohjelmatoiminnan säännöstö, OTS)
are issued. Programmes are to be impartial, based on true
information and facts, and they may not represent any one
single ideology. Activities must be independent of commercial
and party political interests
The battle over communication policy
• In the 1970 ”radio election” the Coalition and the Finnish Rural
Party gained a major victory. The majority in the parliament and the
YLE administration shifted to the right
• Erkki Raatikainen, SDP party secretary becomes the new Director
general – YLE’s second grand “normalization”
• YLE become increasing a party political bone of contention
• The Governing Board delegated responsibility to programme
committees, memberships allocated on party political basis
• Are programmes in line with the foreign policy of the nation?
• 1971 law on broadcasting responsibility (radiovastuulaki):
programme editors became responsible for programmes being
balanced and not of criminal nature
• Together with the communication policy committee (Viestintäpoliittinen komitea,1973-74) parties formulated their own lines
According to the report of the Committee on
Communication Policy:
• Freedom of speech can be realized in the best possible
way when public communication takes place free of
economic interest by means of communication owned by
the society.
• Cable television in particular should be operated by YLE
or a similar organization and the necessary infrastructure
should be built and maintained by the Ministry of Post
and Telegraph Services
• Satellite communication should take place within the
framework of an integral communication policy
Against the monopoly
• Some members of the committee, led by Osmo A. Wiio
submitted a dissenting opinion referring to the freedom of
speech of the individual, civic liberties and pluralism
• Wiio prepared his own memorandum (1973) in which he
proposed that the ideal of freedom of speech should be
realized in as a wide a sense as possible on radio and
television. Although there are reasons for maintaining state
control on broadcasting, this does not apply to cable
services
• According to the Cable television law of 1987 cable services
are to be licensed but belong to the sphere of free
enterprise and the criteria for granting charters can only
depend on the ability to pursue programming
Cable television breaks the monopoly
• Helsinki Cable television (HTV), backed by banks,
insurance agencies, the Finnish Business and Policy
Forum, the Economic Information Office etc, started in
1975
• In the left wing press HTV was referred to as the ”Wild
big capital cable-tv”
• Three channels: H(elsinki), T(ieto), V(iihde)
A decoder was needed for viewing the entertainment
channel.
• HTV news were local and seen on Mon-Fri. During
weekends current affairs magazine programmes
• Advertising revenue did not increase as expected → no
more own production, not even news, after 1980
Ten O'clock News
• The Perttunen committee (1979-83) recommended
allowing local radio activities and MTV to broadcast news
• MTV demanded the right to broadcast news
• In 1981, after the Centre Party changed its view on the
question of news monopoly, YLE Governing Board granted a
two year trial period for MTV news
• “Kymmenen uutiset” began on 1.9.1981
• Local news offices in 10 cities – with airports
• Promise of 75% of domestic news – as opposed to YLE:s
60%
• YLE refused to support MTV:s application to join EBU
• Until 1988 only news older than 24 h could be broadcast
Local radio activities begin
• After the Perttunen committee made its proposals in
1983, Finnish Federation of Local Radios was founded.
• Among the founders were local newspapers, Finnish
Business and Policy Forum and the Economic Information
Office
• Jaakko Numminen, the first secretary of the Ministry of
Education, was invited to act as its chairperson
• It was estimated that Finland could accommodate two
radio frequencies / commune → there could be up to
1000 stations
• In 1989 charters were granted to 42 radio stations
The birth of Channel 3
• The question about a new, commercial channel was discussed
among YLE, MTV and Nokia (1984-5)
• Major newspaper houses began competing for their own
television channel. Sanoma Oy starts a channel called Kanava
Kolme Oy → Uusvisio Oy → Ruutunelonen Oy
• YLE accepted the plan for the founding of a new channel in
1985. The ownership was to be shared: YLE 50 %, MTV 35,
Nokia 15 %. YLE charter was revised so that it could charge
Channel 3 for technical services much in the same way as
MTV had been charged earlier on.
• In 1989 YLE Governing Board accepted that the new channel
would become on affiliate of MTV
• MTV agreed to operate for 10 years under YLE charter – this
allowed it to become EBU member
• Genuine competition between channels – for the first time in
Finland
• New ways of ratings introduced
• More systematic programming in terms of target audiences
• ”Laboratory experiment of television activity” (Hellman)
• As a part of the ”Great Channel Reformation” in 1993 an
independent MTV3 is born – with substantial ownership by
the press media, with YLE still holding a share
• The government granted a charter to Channel 3. It had to pay
a “public service fee”
• The charter may be revised if there are significant changes in
the ownership
YLE’s new position
• December 1993: YLE was defined as a public service
corporation which need not renew its charter
• The corporation became more independent from the
Government, although it remained the ”radio of the
Parliament”
• YLE was charged with the task of supporting democracy
by varied programming which should be targeted also to
ethnic and linguistic minorities
• Programming had to include educational and religious
programmes
• It must also broadcast entertainment
• Standard media fee payed by everyone since 2013
From PTV to Ruutunelonen
• According to Jouni Mykkänen’s 1995 report MTV
should have a nationwide commercial competitor.
• Sanoma Oy, Aamulehti Group and Turun Sanomat
started Suomen paikallis-tv kanavat Oy (PTV, 1989) to
operate a cable television service
• Sanoma Oy owned Helsinki Media acquired the
majority of PTV shares in 1994.
• PTV folded up as Sanomat owned Oy Ruutunelonen Ab
was granted the fourth channel in 1996
• Programme production was entirely outsourced
Other New Channels
• In 1997 emerged the short lived Moon-tv and
Helsingin Aluetelevisio (ATV)
• 1997 Aamulehti and MTV3 are fused into Alma
Media, with the Swedish Bonnier as the principal
shareholder.
• In 1999 appeared the Alma Media linked cable
channel TVTV! and the digital City-tv, soon fused
into the Alma Media Subtv in 2001.
• YLE-teema 2001
• JIM (Jotain ihan muuta), SanomaWSOY / Nelonen
Media. 2007
• etc.
Channels as producers and byers
• In the early 1980s TV companies produced most of
their own domestic output
• Toward the end of 1990s YLE set a committee to
consider increasing outsourcing of production
• A commissioner-producer model emerged, in which
YLE organizes an annual round of competition for
commissions for producers
• There are about ten fairly big producers, although
these are to a fairly large extent in foreign possession
→ high degree of domestic production
Programming in the age of
abundance
• Toward the end of 1980s about 1/5 of the output is foreign fiction,
½ on MTV, 1/10 onYLE1 and 1/5 on YLE 2
• Share of informative programmes on YLE toward the end the turn
of the century about 55 % , 31% on MTV3 and 17% on Nelonen
• TV2 documentary project
• Major productions on YLE: Holmberg’s Rauta-aika (1984) and
Turkka’s Seitsemän veljestä (1989)
• 1980s as the golden era of sketch comedy: Hukkaputki (1981-83),
Velipuolikuu (1983-84), Hymyhuulet (1987-88)
• Political satires: Iltalypsy (1993-2001), Itsevaltiaat (2001-2008) and
Uutisvuoto (1998-), Hyvät herrat (MTV 1990-1996),
• Competition programmes mainly on MTV/Sub: Suuri Seikkailu
(2001), Idols (2003), Big Brother (2005)
Small nation TV broadcasting
• Two strategies for increasing TV channels:
– balance strategy: second channel licensed as a commercial enterprise
– consolidation strategy: two or more public channels started before
licensing commercial channels
• Public channels in operation before commercial channels
licensed: UK:1955 (1), France: 1987 (3), Germany: 1984 (3),
Finland: 1989 (2), Sweden: 1992 (2)
• As the number of commercial channels increases there is a
tendency to see more imported syndicated programming as a
consequence of cost savings measures.
• Differences in the size of population and resources cause
imperfect conditions for competition and limit investment in
original production.
• Buying one hour of Beverly Hills would cost $ 14,000 while
producing one hour of domestic Danish drama at a similar
level of product quality could cost $ 550,000 →
• Public funding is the cornerstone for securing originated
European content
• Amsterdam protocol (1997): “public broadcasting in the
member states is directly related to the democratic, social
and cultural needs of each society.”
• Licence fees and channel subscriptions provide relatively
stable incomes that permit better financial planning and
programme cost allocation: the overall average income per
viewer is fixed
• Television broadcasters in smaller countries are confronted
with programmes and formats developed in and for larger
markets → Broadcasters from smaller markets must either
adapt such international formats for their national realities at
the same (high) cost as larger TV broadcasters or broadcast
such material unaltered at lower costs
• New channels enabled by digital technology tend to establish
small market niches and offer low cost programming, very
often imported – rather than domestic content or news an
current affairs programming
Source: Small Among giants – Television Broadcasting
in Smaller Countries (Nordicom 2011)
Country
Expenditure on
originate content
in gross millions of
Euros (2007)
Expenditure on
originated content
per capita
(2006/2007)
Latvia
11
4.8
Lithuania
13
3.4
Estonia
14
10.4
Finland
262
49.6
Sweden
343
37.6
Denmark
469
86.1
France
2524
41.1
UK
4140
68.2
Germany
4512
54.8