Stöð 2

Stöð 2, literally Station 2, was an Icelandic subscription television channel. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in Iceland following the lifting of the state monopoly on television broadcasting. Sister channels under the Stöð 2 name include Stöð 2 Sport and Stöð 2 Bíó. Stöð 2 was the second-oldest private television station in the Nordic countries, after MTV3 in Finland.

It was last operated by Sýn, until it was discontinued in favour of the Sýn brand in 2025.

History

New media laws of 1986

During the big BSRB strike in the fall of 1984, almost all of RÚV's activities shut down and several illegal radio stations sprung up. As a result, consideration was given to revising the broadcasting laws during the tenure of Minister of Education Ragnhildar Helgadóttir. A new law, which allowed private radio and television stations, was approved by Alþingi on June 13, 1985, and came into effect at the beginning of 1986. Until that time, there had been two radio stations and one television station operating in Iceland, Rás 1 and Rás 2 and Ríkissjónvarpið.

Start of Stöð 2

Stöð 2 went on the air on October 9 that same year as a subscription station with a scrambled program where the subscriber had to buy a code number and enter a video code to unscramble the broadcast. Television presenter Jón Óttar and Vala Matt were prominent on the screen during the first days of the station. The line-up was made up of imported entertainment, dramatized Icelandic entertainment and news. It was difficult to get investors to participate in the activity to begin with. At the beginning of 1987, there were about five thousand subscribers, but by the end of the year there had been almost thirty thousand. At the same time, the number of employees increased and the station began to compete with RÚV for programmers and reporters, which was considered unheard of.

Unification of the brand

Many sister stations were operated under the same company, but in 2008 they were all united under the name of Stöð 2, thus the sports station Sýn became Stöð 2 Sport. Sirkus became Stöð 2 Extra and Fjölvarpið became Stöð 2 Fjölvarp, on the other hand, Stöð 2 Bíó kept its name.

Transition to Sýn

On June 12, 2025, Sýn rebranded all of its divisions, including Stöð 2 to the Sýn name.

Programming

Recurring

• Fréttir, an evening news program, every evening at 6:30 pm
• Ísland í dag, a daily magazine covering various aspects of life in Iceland such as politics, culture and entertainment. It also includes sport, news and weather

Other original programming

• Spaugstofan (comedy)
• Vegferð (comedy)
• Black Sands (drama)
• Réttur, a legal drama series
• Viltu vinna milljon? (Icelandic version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?)
• Idol stjörnuleit (Icelandic version of Pop Idol and related shows)
• The X Factor (Icelandic version)
• Dagvaktin (sitcom)
• Fangavaktin, a comedy series continuation of Næturvaktin and Dagvaktin
• Næturvaktin (sitcom)
• Fóstbræður (sketch comedy)
• Sjálfstætt fólk, an interview and talk show hosted by Jón Ársæll Þórðarson
• Eldsnöggt með Jóa Fel, cooking show
• Logi í Beinni, an Icelandic Talk show hosted by Logi Bergmann Eiðsson
• Ástríður
• Auddi og sveppi
• Algjör sveppi
• Einu sinni var...', "Once Upon A Time", a history show
• Strákarnir, comedy
• Það var lagið, talent show
• Meistarinn, quiz show, hosted by Logi Bergmann Eiðsson
• Stelpurnar, sketch show
• Veggfóður, show about design and lifestyle. Hosted by Vala Matt and Hálfdán Steinþórsson
• Réttur
• Pressa
• Silfur Egils, Sunday talkshow with interviews of those who made the news in the past week
• Kompás, A weekly newsmagazine
• Svínasúpan

They have also aired other shows which were dubbed in the Icelandic language, such as "Woody Woodpecker" (which was also shown on RÚV), "Kum Kum", "Yogi Bear", and many more.

See also

• Sýn
• Bylgjan
• Fréttablaðið