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Hugi · Mar 21, 2009, 05:55 PM

Good evening all,

Well, as some of you might know, Iceland is bankrupt. Or, well, at least the current financial crisis hit us really, really hard.

Well, I'm wondering - Iceland has something akin to BBC 1, a government run TV station, and this station is currently broadcasting a lot of foreign material (such as "Desperate Housewifes", "Lost" etc. etc). Great shows in themselves, but I'm thinking that the government should NOT be spending money on recreational TV and movies, when we're cutting down on health care and education.

So, I'm wondering, does anyone know how much this costs us? How much does it cost to license an american TV show for a nation of 300.000 people?

Doofy · Mar 21, 2009, 06:04 PM

Isn't RÚV funded purely from the licence fee and on-air advertising?

turtle777 · Mar 21, 2009, 06:07 PM

I can't answer that, but I'm pretty sure that those cost are offset by some ad income, right ?

People wanna see this stuff, so they're gonna switch to a channel that has it.
Dropping this kind of programming completely will make the number of viewers go down, and ultimately, either reduce ad income, or some other funding.

-t

Hugi · Mar 21, 2009, 06:08 PM

Yes, they advertise - but last year, the license fee was changed to a poll tax so everyone pays. I don't have a TV set, but I'm still paying for Desperate Houswifes. And that's just ****ed up.

turtle777 · Mar 21, 2009, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by Hugi

Yes, they advertise - but last year, the license fee was changed to a poll tax so everyone pays. I don't have a TV set, but I'm still paying for Desperate Houswifes. And that's just ****ed up.

Oh, please don't get upset about what you pay in taxes, and what you get for it. It's futile.

-t

Hugi · Mar 21, 2009, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Oh, please don't get upset about what you pay in taxes, and what you get for it. It's futile.

-t

Well, I don't know about your country, but I'm sorry if your thoughts are futile there. We have a somewhat functioning system up here - so if I have a good argument, I can actually make a difference in various ways. It's one of the benefits of living in a small nation.

And I'm sorry, I just don't think it's the part of the government to pump popular American TV down the throats of the Icelandic public. The ad money is a very, very small part of the total revenue of the complex, when compared to the money they get from the flat amount tax we pay to them.

turtle777 · Mar 21, 2009, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Hugi

Well, I don't know about your country, but I'm sorry if your thoughts are futile there.

Sorry, but that's really hilarious in light of how your country's economy blew up recently...

-t

Hugi · Mar 21, 2009, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Sorry, but that's really hilarious in light of how your country's economy blew up recently...

-t

Yes, it kind of is.

The entire nation DID participate in the crash - but now we are fighting back and have a plan to get back on our feet. Again, I'm very sorry that you feel you can't participate in your country's government and don't like to try to affect taxes, but up here we do.

Now, on subject, does anyone know how much those TV licenses cost?

ort888 · Mar 21, 2009, 08:49 PM

You stuck us with Bjork and now you're stuck with Desperate Housewives. Tit for tat.

Chuckit · Mar 21, 2009, 10:20 PM

If you really have as much of a say in this as you claim, couldn't you just call them up and go, "Hey, how much is Housewives costing you?"

Doofy · Mar 21, 2009, 11:38 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

If you really have as much of a say in this as you claim

He does. Probably. IIRCC, up there in the frozen lands, everyone is listed in the phone book. Name and profession. Thus, the prime minister would be "Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, prime minister". In the phone book. Just call her up at home and chat.

Hugi · Mar 22, 2009, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by ort888

You stuck us with Bjork and now you're stuck with Desperate Housewives. Tit for tat.

You're welcome

Originally Posted by Chuckit

If you really have as much of a say in this as you claim, couldn't you just call them up and go, "Hey, how much is Housewives costing you?"

Yes, I'll make a request for info on Monday, I was just hoping to find info sooner

.

Originally Posted by Doofy

He does. Probably. IIRCC, up there in the frozen lands, everyone is listed in the phone book. Name and profession. Thus, the prime minister would be "Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, prime minister". In the phone book. Just call her up at home and chat.

Hehe, indeed

. It's not like we have direct democracy or anything, but it's easier to make big waves in a small pond.

Gavin · Mar 23, 2009, 06:05 AM

It's about $200,000 US per episode.

(22,750,000 Iceland Kroner according to these guys: http://coinmill.com/ISK_calculator.html)

Here is an announcement for a whole season of re-runs for "Boston Legal", another popular US show, bought by a cable channel. http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...ryid=1236&cs=1

So it's probably safe to say that all the taxes you will ever pay in your lifetime will not cover one season of one show. ($4.8 mil / 546 mil IKr)

On the other hand your cut (dividing by Iceland's population) is $15 / 1,706 IKr. per season. That's 62 cents an episode. 71 IKr.

Adding up a week's worth of prime time TV I'd guess you are spending $2 a day on American TV. That's about what cable TV costs me.

- I hope I got the exchange rate close -

Do they dub it into Islandic or do enough people there speak english?

analogika · Mar 23, 2009, 06:25 AM

Um, I really don't know anything about TV syndication, but it would seem to me that licensing content for a network broadcast across nation of 300 million TV addicts is a RADICALLY different situation from licensing for a nation of 300 000 nature freaks.

If a season of "Boston Legal" costs Icelandic television even *close* to what it costs an American network, there is something utterly, utterly wrong.

Doofy · Mar 23, 2009, 07:03 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

Um, I really don't know anything about TV syndication, but it would seem to me that licensing content for a network broadcast across nation of 300 million TV addicts is a RADICALLY different situation from licensing for a nation of 300 000 nature freaks.

I'm gonna go with that.
I'm guessing that the approach is more like "oh well, we made it, it's there. Might as well show it to Iceland for an extra 50 bucks".