Since last Saturday at midnight, Danish TV viewers have a clearer, sharper TV picture, access to widescreen format and a much wider choice of programmes. The switch over to digital was completed on time and in only a few hours thanks to NEC Corporation that had been hired by Broadcast Service Denmark A/S (BSD) - operating the national terrestrial TV networks in Denmark - to implement the transition to full digital, via its latest generation transmitters DTU-52 and DTL-10.
Among the hundreds of new digital channels available to millions of Danish homes are the three new DR channels DR HD (movies, TV series and documentaries), the cultural/history channel DR K and the kids channel Ramasjang. During the first day of airing of DR digital channels, around 411,000 Danish viewers saw DR Ramasjang, 278,000 DR K and 199,000 DRHD.
The popular series Forbrydelsen (The Killing) was seen by 111,000 viewers and Yann Arthus Bertrand's ecological documentary Home had 35,000 viewers on DR HD. Last Sunday, DR Ramasjang already carved itself a handsome market share with 12% of viewers aged between 3-10, almost on par with Disney Channel's 13% market share.
With the Analogue Switch Off, Danish pay TV operator Boxer can also start offering its full bouquet of 31 national pay channels plus its three free to air channels from neighbouring countries TV4 Sweden, TV2 Norway, and ARD from Germany.
Analogue terrestrial transmissions in Finland and in Sweden were switched off in 2007. In Norway, analogue television is set to close down by the end of this year.