Yle

Yleisradio/Rundradion (Yle)

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Finland
Availability	National International
Founded	1926 radio 1958 television
Slogan	Your story.
Market share	45.2% of Finnish television viewers and 53% of radio listeners (2010)
Owner	99.9% state-owned, supervised by an Administrative Council appointed by Parliament
Key people	CEO Lauri Kivinen
Launch date	September 9, 1926
Official website	www.yle.fi

Yleisradio (Finnish), also known as Rundradion (Swedish) or the Finnish Broadcasting Company (English), abbreviated to Yle (pronounced /yle/), is Finland's national public-broadcasting company, founded in 1926. Yleisradio's organization shares many of the characteristics of its British counterpart, the BBC, on which it was largely modelled. It employs around 3,200 people in Finland.

Yle is a public limited company, owned by the Finnish state (with a 99.98% share). For the most part of Yle's existence it has been funded through a radio license fee (1927-1976) and a television licence fee (1958-2012) as well as from private television broadcasting licence revenues. Beginning from year 2013, Yle is funded by a special 'Yle tax', which is collected annually from private individuals among their other taxes and from corporations. The vast majority of Yle tax is collected from individual taxpayers. Minors and persons with income less than 7813 euros are exempt. At the lower limit the tax is 50 euros and the maximum tax of 140 euros is for an individual with an income of 20588 euros or more. The rationale for abolition of TV fee was the development of other means to deliver Yle services, like Internet, and thus impracticality to tie the fee to ownership of a specific device. Yle receives no advertising revenues as all channels are ad-free.

Yle has a status that could be described as that of a non-departmental public body. It is governed by a parliamentary governing council. Yle's turnover in 2006 was 383.5 million euro.

Yle operates four national television channels, 13 radio channels and services, and 25 regional radio stations. Finland being an officially bilingual country — around 5.5% of the population have Swedish as their mother-tongue — Yle provides radio and TV programming in Swedish through a department called Svenska Yle. As is customary in Finnish television and cinemas, foreign films and shows are generally subtitled on Yle's channels. Dubbing is used in cartoons intended for young children who have not yet learned to read, as well as many nature and history documentaries ("to avoid spoiling beautiful pictures").

In the field of international broadcasting, one of Yle's best known services is Nuntii Latini, the news in Latin, which is broadcast worldwide and made available over the Internet. Yle was also one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. Yle hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland.

logo of Yle used until March 5th 2012

History

Yle's headquarters, known as Iso Paja ("the big workshop"), in Pasila, Helsinki

Yleisradio was founded in Helsinki on 29 May 1926. The first radio programme was transmitted on 9 September in that year, and this is the date generally considered to be the birthday of regular broadcasting activities in Finland. However, it was not until 1928 that Yle's broadcasts became available throughout the country. After this the broadcasting network was developed and by the beginning of the 1930s, 100,000 households were able to listen Yle's programmes.

In 1957 Yle made its first television broadcast tests, and the following year regular TV programming was started under the name Suomen Televisio (Finnish Television). The popularity of television in the country grew rapidly and in 1964, Yle obtained TES-TV and Tamvisio, which were merged to Yle TV2. Colour television broadcasts began in 1969 and broadcasts were fully in colour within ten years. During the past few years, Yle has founded a number of new radio and television channels and in 2007 there was a digital television switchover. A completely new digital channel Yle Teema was introduced, and the Swedish-language FST (Finlands Svenska Television) was moved from reserved analogue channel time to its own digital channel Yle FST5 (now Yle Fem). Five channels were reserved, where the fifth channel was initially used for 24-hour news (Yle24). However, this channel was decommissioned, and the replacement, Yle Extra, was also decommissioned in 2007. Until August 4, 2008, the fifth channel was used to broadcast Yle TV1 with Finnish subtitles broadcast on programmes in foreign languages (without having to enable the digital set-top box's subtitle function).

Television

Yle TV1

• TV1 is the oldest of Yle's channels and also the flagship of Yle. It services as the main news, current affairs and factual journalism channel of Yle with also a number of documentaries, drama, cultural and educational programmes being shown. Satirical entertainment, cinema and shows of British production are also included in its programming.

Yle TV2

• TV2 founded in 1964 is the main channel for children's, teenagers' and sports programmes though it also shows drama, entertainment and factual programmes. Emphasis in current affairs output is on domestic items, regional content and citizens' journalism. It broadcasts Eurovision Song Contest for Finland.

Yle Fem

• Yle Fem (English: Five) is the Swedish-language full service channel broadcasting news, factual and children's programmes and entertainment. It also shows many Nordic films and series and Sami-language Ođđasat. Finnish subtitles are available for most programmes, they can be enabled using the digital set-top box. Outside prime time, Fem shows selected broadcasts from Sweden's Sveriges Television.

Yle Teema

• Yle Teema (English: Theme) is the channel for culture, education and science. It focuses on recordings of performing arts, classical music, art and history documentaries, films and theme broadcasts.

Yle HD

• is an HDTV channel which broadcasts simulcasts of Yle TV2 on weekdays and Yle TV1 on weekends in 1080i. Some programs are in native HD but most are upscaled. For now Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, Pan Am, newest BBC programs and Yle's own drama production can be seen in native HD with 5.1 surround sound if available. Channel is broadcast by Canal Digital in satellite, terrestrially by DNA widely in southern Finland but also in other parts of the country. It reaches 60% of the population terrestrially. Channel is a "must carry" channel so anywhere where the channel is available in terrestrial cable operators operating in that area must broadcast it too.

Yle Finland

• Yle Finland is Digital satellite channel showing a selection of Yle and MTV3 programmes in other parts of Europe.

Teletext

• Teletext Finnish: Teksti-tv shows news, sport and programme information round the clock. Theme pages on the weather, traffic, work and leisure.

Radio

• Yle Radio 1: A radio channel for culture, in-depth current affairs and talk programmes. Classical music (concerts by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra), jazz, folk, world music and religious music.
• Yle X: A fast-tempo programme-flow channel featuring new music and in tune with popular culture, targeted at 17 to 27-year-olds. Percentage of music is 70%. New domestic and foreign pop and rock and several special music programmes.
• Yle Radio Suomi: The national and regional news, service and contact channel, also sport and entertainment. Musical fare comprising domestic and foreign hits, adult and nostalgic pop.
• Yle Puhe (formerly Yle Radio Peili): The news and current affairs channel presenting talk programmes from Yle's other radio and television channels. Classical jazz. Also broadcast on digital television.
• Yle Extrem: The Swedish-language youth channel for current affairs debate and popular culture, broadcasting also news. New pop and rock and special music programmes.
• Yle Vega: News, current affairs and culture in Swedish for all audience groups, also offering culture and regional programmes. Adult pop, jazz and classical music.
• Yle Sápmi: A Sami-language network covering most of Lapland. Co-operation with SVT and NRK.

Digital services

Yle will phased out DAB broadcasts by the end of 2005. Two DAB channels continued to be available as DVB audio services. DVB.

• Yle Klassinen: The 24-hour digital supplementary service of classical music also broadcast on digital television.
• Yle VegaPlus

International services

• Yle Finland: The external service of Yle broadcasting in Finnish, Swedish and Russian. The channel comprises today two satellite audio networks available in Europe only, as part of the transmission of television. Until early 2012 YLE was available on satellite worldwide (except South America and Africa), but closed those channels in Januarya 2012. Short and medium wave services closed down in 2006.

• Yle Mondo Broadcasts in English and other languages, mostly compiled from international radio services. YLE Mondo is available on FM in Helsinki and throughout the country as an audio attached to Digital TV.

See also 

List of Finnish television channels

Yle tax

Until the end of 2012, citizens paid for the use of television. The tariff was paid for each television and location, including summer cottages with televisions, second flats with television and portable equipments e.g. computer with a television card. The members of parliament had often two residents and thus obligation in minimum to two television tariffs. With summer cottage and a computer with TV card the obligation may have been from three to four TV tariffs. From start of 2013 television tariff was changed so that every tax payer with television or without pay equal tariff. This is most beneficial to those using portable computers and having summer cottages with television. In 2012 there were extra controls. However, no statistics of the payments of the summer cottages and computers and mobile phones with TV cards have been ever been seen in public.

Controversies

In radio, Yle was a legal monopoly until 1985, when local radio stations were permitted, and maintained a national monopoly until 1995, when national radio networks were allowed.

In the past, Yle has been seen in Finland as a "red" or leftist medium. This was true especially in 1965–1969, during the term of Director-General Eino S. Repo, who got the position with the backing of the Agrarian League and President Kekkonen (who was a member of the Agrarian Party), as he was Kekkonen's personal friend. He was accused of favouring student radicalism and young reporters with socially critical programs that demanded reforms, and Yle was given the nickname "Reporadio". After his resigning, he was demoted to the position of director of radio broadcasting, on the communist-leading People's Democratic League mandate.

Repo resigned in 1969, but according to Yle, the "political mandate" remained, as Erkki Raatikainen was named director directly from the Social Democratic Party office. Subsequently, all directors after him until 2010 were Social Democrats.

The appointment of Lauri Kivinen in February 2010 excited much adverse comment as he was previously head of the Nokia Siemens group which had sold monitoring equipment to the Iranian Secret Service, allowing them to arrest political dissidents throughout the unrest in the fall of 2009.

English-language newscaster Kimmo Wilska was fired on August 13, 2010 - after pretending to be caught drinking on-camera following an alcohol-related news story on Yle News. Wilska's stunt was not well received by Yle management who fired him that same day. Wilska received a lot of support after his termination.

Yle has been criticized for buying lots of HBO series as wasting taxpayers money on them. Yle has responded to criticism emphasizing suitability of series to channels with no ad breaks, quality and low price of HBO programming and stating that American programs even with HBO form only 7% of Yle programming.

Decision to close shortwave

The broadcasts on shortwave from Yle were closed at the end of 2006. Expatriate organisations had been campaigning for a continued service, but their efforts did not succeed in maintaining the service or even in slowing the process. The decision also affected a high-powered medium wave on 963 kHz (312m). A smaller medium wave covering the Gulf of Finland region (558 kHz, 538m) remained on air for a few more years.

Parliamentary question about shortwave

Conservative^{[citation needed]} member of parliament Mr Pertti Hemmilä submitted in November 2005 a question in parliament about the plans of Yle to end its availability on international shortwave bands. In his question MP Hemmilä took up the low cost of the world band radio to the consumer travelling or living abroad. In her response the minister for communication and transport, Mrs Susanna Huovinen (sdp) noted that Yle would now be available via other means such as satellites and the Internet. She also underlined the fact that Yle is not under government control, but under direct parliamentary supervision. (The link above leads to texts of the question and the response in Finnish and Swedish at www.eduskunta.fi)

List of Yle managing directors

• L. M. Viherjuuri 1926 - 1927 acting
• Yrjö Koskelainen 1927 - 1927 acting
• A. Deinert 1927 - 1927 acting
• Hjalmar Voldemar Walldén - 1927- 1945 (changed name in 1935 to J. V. (Jalmar Voldemar)
• Hella Wuolijoki 1945 - 1949
• Einar Sundström 1950 - 1964
• Eino S. Repo 1965 - 1969
• Erkki Raatikainen 1970 - 1979
• Sakari Kiuru 1980 - 1989
• Reino Paasilinna 1990 - 1994
• Arne Wessberg 1994 - 2005
• Mikael Jungner 2005 - 2010
• Lauri Kivinen since 2010

See also

• List of documentary channels

External links

• Yle – Official site
• svenska.yle.fi – Svenska Yle. Official site in Swedish.
• Yle News – News in English
• Yle Sámi Radio – audio and video in Sámi (Lappish)
• www.yle.fi/novosti – Yle po-russki. Yle in Russian.
• Nuntii Latini – News in Latin
• TV-maksuhallinto (the Television Fee Administration)

Streaming video and audio

• Yle Areena – in Finnish
• Yle Arenan – in Swedish
• Elävä arkisto – the "Living Archive" in Finnish
• Arkivet – the "Archive, a part of the Living Archive" in Swedish
• Yle News – video in English
• Yle News in English – audio in English