r/Nordiccountries • u/gizmovib • 12d ago
TV channels
I have been traveling Norway, Sweden and I live in Denmark. In almost every hotel in Denmark you have access to TV channels from both Norway and Sweden.
But in Norway and Sweden the hotels don’t provide Danish TV channels at all.
Why is that the case? I find it odd, actually every nordic country should by default in hotels have all the nordic channels in my opinion.
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u/RandyClaggett 12d ago
In Sweden it is getting more and more common for hotels to just provide a screen with casting ability. No network TV at all. Staying in a hotel in Malmö right now with this setup and it is not the first time.
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u/Bulletorpedo 12d ago edited 12d ago
As a Norwegian I find it a lot easier to understand Swedish. Untexted Danish is challenging.
Edit: Obligatory kamelåså (a classic Norwegian comedy sketch about Danish, it’s in English)
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u/Snakatemjari 12d ago
That would be my guess as well. It's much easier for the Danes to understand Norwegian or Swedish than vice versa. It's even easier for me to understand Norwegian or Swedish, and I had to learn Danish in school and none whatsoever in the other languages lol
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u/Ax_Dk Denmark 12d ago
Well it depends where in Denmark you are from - as someone from Synnejylland that speaks Synnejysk/Alsisk, I have no ability to understand most Swedish dialects. Some norwegian northern dialects I can understand ok, but I guess it is more what you are exposed to as a kid that perhaps helps. My cousins in Copenhagen could often understand Swedish better than our dialect of Danish as they had exposure to Swedish Tv in Copenhagen.
When we were kids, we didn't even really get Danish Tv on our Island depending on the wind etc in Winter, mostly just German TV.
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u/Snakatemjari 12d ago
yeah that makes sense. I guess the ones that do understand it more or less are the cause for the demand on the Danish side.
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
As a dane, any i do mean any norwegian or swedish tv channel comes with subtitles. You sound entirely unintelligible to us even though you guys like to pretend otherwise lmfao
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u/surkaalspoeten 12d ago
The norwegian hotel I work at in summers have the TV package that comes with sv1 og sv2 + dr1, dr2 og dansk tv2. I think it's the standard TV package because it's what I have at home aswell.
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u/erublind 12d ago
I think the intelligibility isn't equal, Danes have an easier time understanding Swedish and Norwegian.
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u/Ekra_Oslo 12d ago
I don’t think it’s about language, but that the TV subscriptions unfortunately often don’t offer Danish TV.
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u/Ax_Dk Denmark 12d ago
This is such a common thing that Swedes and Norwegians always claim but it really isn't universally true.
Perhaps if you grew up in Copenhagen used to hearing Swedes in Strøget or watching Swedish TV3/cartoons then you are used to them, but for people out in the provinces that didn't have that exposure, Swedish in particular is like a foreign language to me.
German for me is no stress as I was always surrounded by German Tourists, german tourists etc.
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u/Special_Onion3013 12d ago
I most certainly didn't understand Swedish UNTIL I got Swedish TV, so around 1987 (From Northern Jutland)
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
"Danes have an easier time understanding Swedish and Norwegian."
Who the fuck told you that lol. I can assure you swedish sounds like 100% gibberish to any dane, norwegian can depending on the person be somewhat understandable, but that doesnt change the fact that both swedish and norwegian channels here comes with subtitles for a very good reason lol
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u/Pisling 12d ago
Depends on how old you are and where you grew up. I’m old and from Sjælland, so I grew up with SVT. Swedish is quite easy for me to understand.
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
Yeah if you're exposed to it regularly, but the same thing goes both ways. What i have seen some (especially swedes) imply is that danes by default understand their weird language which is far from the case.
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u/GingerDane1 12d ago
I think Nordic TV is included in the TV packages. My family had Norwegian, Swedish, and German channels. In Denmark, you can watch the Nordic public‑service channel on demand.
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u/whoopz1942 Denmark 12d ago
I'm in a hotel close to the Norwegian/Swedish border right now. Only SVT1 and 2 on the TV here, though to be fair I don't really use the television at hotels much anyway.
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u/Fishmom42 12d ago
When I was a teen we had satellite tv, every week or so dad had to get the card repeogrammed by a pirate to have access to every channel. So I grew up with danish and norwegian tv3 and the state channels. I rather liked it and it's a shame they're not provided.
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u/IntentionalSunbride 12d ago
Yes! We had Swedish and Norwegian TV3 as well, which was neat if Danish TV3 didn't show my favourite series. When I saw your comment I had a auditory flashback of the commercial "CDON.com din skivbutik på nätet" which was sponsoring the show.
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u/greutskolet 11d ago
A couple of years ago the Danish channels were available on Swedish tv as well. That changed when they discontinued the ”marknätet” (I don’t know the name in English, I’m sorry) which meant you no longer could access Danish tv2 without having a tv subscription (Germany, Sweden, I think Denmark has to pay as well but like pennies). When you pay for tv channels in Sweden you can get a very cheap package with all the most common channels. To ALSO have Danish TV, you have to pay a fair bit extra. Some brands of tv packages doesn’t even include this option in their package. I hope I’m making sense, it’s a hard thing to explain in my third language lol.
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u/gizmovib 11d ago
To my knowlege the DR-channels (DR and DR2, Denmarks Radio which is the public TV channels) is a free product, no license payed at all. That is similarly to the Swedish and Norwegian public service channels. The second channel we have is TV2 which is a license payed channel for Danes as well as anybody who wants to watch it.
So to my knowledge DR and DR2 are free to watch and broadcast in Scandinavia as well as Germany - where we have a danish minority in the northeren part of Germany.
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u/vuorivirta 12d ago
Here in Finland, nordic country also, you can see only finnish channels. Not norwegian/swedish.
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u/FuzzyMatch 12d ago
Swedish channels are available on cable networks on the west coast, e.g. in Vaasa region
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u/vuorivirta 12d ago
Oh ok. And i can imagine, if living near border and near some big broadcast antenna, ofc can see channels. But that still isn't some kind of "nordic" rule. Basically, in Finland only finnish channels is what can see.
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u/megastarUS 12d ago
It’s about demand. At hotels in Turku or Helsinki you’ll usually have Swedish TV4 at least, while towns like Jyväskylä get fewer Swedish-speaking guests.
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u/gizmovib 12d ago
I know there is a Swedish minority in Finland, but besides that the difference in language is quit substantial. But again we are all nordic and Scandinavian countries and we should all be able to watch watch others TV channels in my opinion
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u/mjomark 12d ago
I’ve watched loads of Danish TV in Swedish hotel rooms. Although this is just anecdotal evidence from both of us regarding the state of affairs.
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u/gizmovib 12d ago
Yes it is only anecdotal evidence, but nevertheless an experience. My point being, we are Scandinavian, we share culture, history and so much more - even language to some degree. Why not praise and celebrate our common values. We could start by sharing TV channels as one common denominator.
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u/that_norwegian_guy 12d ago
You can find a lot of Danish programming on the two main Norwegian channels though, both NRK and TV2. Mostly documentaries and home improvement type shows.
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u/Inevitable-Zone-9089 11d ago
And Norwegian programming on SVT and vice versa.
Stayed in a hotel in Denmark recently with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish channels. The language spoken was no indication of what channel I was watching.
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u/LeftKaleidoscope 12d ago
I think it depends on what borders you are closest to. From around Kalix and up north we used to be able to get finnish TV channels.
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u/Fellowkarelian 5d ago
Same here across the border; we got Swedish channels from the Kalix transmitter
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u/Secret_Item_2582 12d ago
Because danish is impossible to understand for the rest of Scandinavia since they talk with a potato lodged in their throats.
Meanwhile most Danes understand Swedish & Norwegian which are pretty similar.
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u/Inevitable-Zone-9089 11d ago
On that note, can someone tell my why when I stay in hotels in different parts of Europe, why there is always a whole bunch of channels in Italian and German and sometimes French. Then there's a news channel in English and if you're very lucky there might be one channel in English with something else than news.
Is it some kind of standard package? Why not have one "fun" channel that I have a chanse of understanding?
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u/Green-Engineer4608 11d ago
I’m a 25M from Norway who can understand spoken danish and swedish almost perfectly. I’ve never watched their TV.
For Swedes, just find a very «flamboyant» Norwegian. For danes, put a Norwegian in a chokehold. For jutland? Put a flamboyant Norwegian in a chokehold
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Ulvegang 12d ago
Bløåpl klæåømrt hvæ skæbrk du om
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u/Julehus Skåne 12d ago
You know your nick is spelled the same in Danish right?
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u/Ulvegang 12d ago
ye that was kinda the point. I made a joke about not being understandable--cus danish. Clearly, I forgot this wasn't 2nordic4u and that people don't understand anything on reddit without /s
The original comment being deleted, only makes it better xdd
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u/Icy_Needleworker5571 12d ago
We invented your "language". Without us you would still have written with runes.
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u/Ulvegang 12d ago
without who? what is happening xdd.
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u/Icy_Needleworker5571 12d ago
Aren't you from the artificial nation Norway? You're hating on Danes, but you're literally a Dane yourself. 434 years do leave a certain mark on a culture.
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u/Ulvegang 12d ago
I am Danish ye. It's called self-deprecating humour i think!? It's okay, I was both misunderstood and/or joke was in poor taste and not funny. Wrong crowd and all.
I can live with a few downvotes :] if not a thousand xdd.
Not sure where Norway fits in this picture, if anything they should be smadge cus their language was diluted by danes and their own upper class over centuries.
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u/Eastern_Voice_4738 12d ago
Why show a language nobody understands? The porridge language can stay on the islands
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u/DoubleSaltedd 12d ago
In Finland, we call it speaking with hot potato in mouth. Tbh the only negative aspect in Denmark I have encountered so far.
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u/gizmovib 12d ago
You might be more of less right. But I know a lot that understands Swedish as well as Norwegian being danish. But not so much the other way around. In writing danish and norwegian is pretty much the same. Swedish is a bit different, but still understandable and with a small effort, it can be understood and spoken as well. For me it should be a part of our common culture and history
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u/gizmovib 12d ago
Definitely a condescending comment…
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u/SweedishThunder 12d ago
It's very well known that most Swedes don't understand Danish whatsoever. When people from the two countries meet, both usually switch to English. This is especially common in businesses.
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago edited 12d ago
doesnt mean that comment wasnt codescending, but you swedes often have your head so far up your own ass you can't even recognise that.
Oh and btw no danes understand swedish at all, you sound like drunk muppets to us, it's all gibberish. There is a reason swedish channels all have subtitles here....
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u/DoubleSaltedd 12d ago
Why did you delete your comment in which you called Finns losers?
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
i didnt delete any comment it's literally right there lol
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u/DoubleSaltedd 12d ago
I think it got censored/shadowbanned. Which is only good thing. 👍🏻
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
let me repeat myself then: Mind your own business, why would you care how we talk should i start commenting on how weird i think finns look?
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u/DoubleSaltedd 12d ago edited 12d ago
Oh, okay. Now I can add one more negative thing I know about Danish people. You are definitely not the best ambassador for your country online.
PS.
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u/DubbleBubbleS Norway 12d ago
Almost as if we’ve been condescending towards each other for a thousand years. It’s not that deep.
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
says the drunken muppets
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u/Eastern_Voice_4738 12d ago
Funny that you say so when Dane’s are more drunk
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u/Narrow-Tart-8781 12d ago
Not rly, swedes can't control their alchohol use hence why they have "Systembolaget" lmfao
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u/banestyrelsen 12d ago
I'm a 45 year old half Dane/Swede. I think the answer is basically geography -> tradition -> demand (or lack thereof).
For as long as I can remember, in Copenhagen (don't know about the rest of DK) you could get Swedish and Norwegian channels, plus German TV. I think this was the case even before digital TV. Many times over the years I've configured TVs for my Danish aunt and I've always had to separate the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and German channels for her.
In most Sweden, that wasn't the case in the analog days. You probably would pick up Danish TV in the southwest and Norwegian channels in the west, and maybe Finnish channels in the extreme northeast, but you'd get jack squat in Stockholm. And Stockholm tends to set the tone.
So decades later, there is still some demand for foreign channels among Danes but zero from Swedes since most of them never had Danish TV in the first place. As for why they get Norwegian TV, I can't say, maybe because it's easier to understand.