 Logo used since 2012 | |
| Type | Terrestrialradio,television andonline |
|---|---|
| Branding | Yleisradio |
| Country | |
First air date | 1926 |
| Availability | Finland (TheNordics and the rest of theEuropean Union if your registered place of residence is in Finland) |
| Founded | 29 May 1926; 99 years ago (1926-05-29) (Radio) 1 January 1958; 67 years ago (1958-01-01) (Television) |
| Motto | Kaikille yhteinen, jokaiselle oma (Common to all, unique to everyone) |
| 45.2% of Finnish television viewers and 53% of radio listeners (2010)[1][2] | |
| Headquarters | Uutiskatu 5,Helsinki,Finland |
| Regions | YLE Åland |
| Owner | 99.98% state-owned, supervised by an administrative council appointed by theFinnish parliament |
| Parent | Ministry of Transport and Communications |
Key people | Marit af Björkesten (CEO) |
Launch date | 9 September 1926; 99 years ago (1926-09-09) |
Former names | O.Y. Suomen Yleisradio / A.B. Finlands Rundradio[3] |
Official website | yle |
Yleisradio Oy (lit. 'General RadioLtd.';Swedish:Rundradion Ab), abbreviated asYle (Finnish:[ˈyle]; formerly styled inall uppercase until 2012), translated intoEnglish as theFinnish Broadcasting Company, isFinland's nationalpublic broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is ajoint-stock company, which is 99.98% owned by the Finnish state and employs around 3,000 people in Finland.[4]
Yle was long funded by revenues obtained from abroadcast receiving license fee payable by the owners of radio sets (1927–1976) and television sets (1958–2012) and through a portion of the broadcasting license fees payable by private television broadcasters. Since 2013, the license fee has been replaced by a public broadcasting tax (known as theYle tax) collected annually from Finnish citizens and corporations. The main part of the Yle tax is collected from individual taxpayers, with payments assessed on a sliding scale. Minors and those with an annual income less than €7,813 are exempt. At the lower limit, the tax payable by individuals is €50 per annum, and the maximum (payable by an individual with a yearly income of €20,588 or more) is €140.[5] The rationale for the abolition of the television license fee was the development of other means of delivering Yle's services, such as theInternet, and the consequent impracticality of continuing to tie the fee to the ownership of a specific device. Yle receives no advertising revenue, as all channels are advertisement-free. Yle has a status that could be described as that of anon-departmental public body. It is governed by a parliamentary governing council. Yle's turnover in 2010 was €398.4 million. In 2024, Yle's annual budget was about €600 million.[6]
Yle operates three national television channels, 13 radio channels and services, and 25 regional radio stations. As Finland isconstitutionally bilingual—around 5.5% of the population speaksSwedish as their native language—Yle provides radio and TV programming in Swedish through its Swedish-language department,Svenska Yle. As is customary in Finland, foreign films and TV programmes (as well as segments of local programmes that feature foreign language content, like news reports) are generallysubtitled on Yle's channels.Dubbing is used incartoons intended for young children who have not yet learned to read; off-screen narration in documentaries is also frequently dubbed.[citation needed]
In the field of international broadcasting, one of Yle's best-known services wasNuntii Latini, the news inLatin, which was broadcast worldwide and made available on theInternet. Yle was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of theEuropean Broadcasting Union in 1950. It hosted theEurovision Song Contest 2007 inHelsinki.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2017) |
.jpg)
Suomen Yleisradio (Finland's General Radio) was founded inHelsinki on 29 May 1926. The firstradio programme was transmitted on 9 September that year in a studio at Unioninkatu 20, generally considered the birthdate of regular broadcasting activities in Finland. The name Yleisradio was taken from the Defense Forces, where Yleisradio meant a radio broadcast that could be heard by everyone.[7] Before YLE, Radio broadcasts were done by Radiola in Helsinki from March 23, 1924,[8] the radio battalion of the Finnish Defense Forces in Santahamina at the former Russian Empire Baltic Fleet officer casino, now Katajanokka casino starting in April 1923[9] and by Tampereen radioyhdistys, (Tampere Radio Society) in April 1924.[10] Not until 1928 did Yle's broadcasts become available throughout the country. By the beginning of the 1930s, 100,000 households could listen to Yle programmes, and in 1933, Yle moved to Fabianinkatu 15, were it would stay until 1968 were it moved to Ylen Kesäkatu and thenMediatalo in 1978.
In 1957, Yle made its first television broadcast tests, and regular TV programming began the next year under the nameSuomen Televisio (Finland's Television), which was later renamedYle TV1. Television's popularity in the country grew rapidly. In 1964, Yle obtainedTES-TV andTamvisio, which were merged intoYle TV2. In 1969, the Finnish Broadcasting Company began broadcasting television programmes in colour, but due to the high cost of colour technology, colour only became standard in the late 1970s. On 1 May 1977,Tv-uutiset (TV-news) andTV-nytt switched to colour. In 1996, Yle's operations inÅland were transferred toÅlands Radio and TV, and in 1998, Yle's transmitter network and related assets were spun off into a separate company calledDigita Oy [fi].
In radio, Yleisradio was a legalmonopoly until 1985, when local radio stations were permitted,[11] and maintained a national monopoly until 1995, when national radio networks were allowed.[12]
In the 2000s, Yle established several new radio and television channels. In 2007, there was adigital television switchover. A completely new digital channel,Yle Teema (Yle Theme) was introduced, and the Swedish-languageFST (Finlands Svenska Television, Finland's Swedish Television) was moved from its analogue channel to its digital one, YLE FST5 (later renamed Yle Fem). In addition to these four channels (TV1, TV2, Teema, and Fem), a fifth channel, YLE24, was launched in 2001 for 24-hour news programming. This channel was replaced by YLE Extra, a channel attempting to cater to the youth, which was in turn decommissioned in 2007.[13] Until 4 August 2008, the fifth channel was used to broadcast Yle TV1 with Finnish subtitles on programmes in foreign languages (without having to enable the TV's or digital set-top box's subtitle function).
.svg){kind=logo}
All of Yle's TV channels are in high definition, as of April 2025.[16] Formerly discontinued channels are:Kolmoskanava,YLE24,YLE Extra,YLE TV1+ [fi] (2008) andYLE HD [fi] (2011–2014).
.jpg)
Yle phased outdigital radio broadcasts by the end of 2005. Three channels continued to be available asDVB audio services until they were shut down on 30 June 2016.
Until the end of 2012, Finnish citizens paid Yle a license fee for the use of a television, set at 252 euros per year in 2012. Thetelevision license was per location, which could hold several sets (e.g. in a living room as well as a bedroom). The public broadcasting tax, also known as the Yle tax, replaced the license fee in 2013. The tax ranges from 50 euros to 140 euros per person and per year, depending on income. Minors and persons with low income are exempt from the tax.[18]
In 1965–69, during the term of director-generalEino S. Repo, who got the position with the backing of theAgrarian League and PresidentUrho Kekkonen (a member of the Agrarian League), as he was Kekkonen's personal friend. Repo was accused of favouring leftist student radicalism and young left-leaning reporters with programmes critical of capitalism that demanded reforms to bring Finland closer to the Soviet Union, as such, Yle was given the nickname "Reporadio".[19] After Repo resigned, he was demoted to director of radio broadcasting, on thecommunist-ledPeople's Democratic League mandate.[20]
Repo resigned in 1969, but according to Yle,[21] a "political mandate" remained, asErkki Raatikainen was named director-general directly from theSocial Democratic Party's office. All directors after him until 2010 were Social Democrats. This was ended by the appointment of the conservativeNational Coalition Party'sLauri Kivinen as director-general in 2010.[22]
During thefinlandisation period, Yle contributed to Kekkonen's policy of "neutrality" by broadcasting the programNäin naapurissa about the Soviet Union. This program was produced in co-operation with the Soviets and supported Soviet propaganda without criticism.[23]
Kivinen's appointment in 2010 received much criticism, as he was previously head ofNokia Siemens Networks, which had sold monitoring equipment to theIranian Ministry of Intelligence, allowing them to arrest political dissidents throughoutthe protests in the fall of 2009.[24]
English-language newscasterKimmo Wilska was fired on 13 October 2010[25] after pretending to be caught drinking on camera following an alcohol-related news story onYle News. His stunt was not well-received by Yle's management, which fired him that day. Wilska received substantial support after his termination from the company.[26]
Yle has been criticised for buying manyHBO series. It has responded by emphasising the suitability of the HBO series to channels with no ad breaks, citing the programming's quality and low price, and stating that American programmes constitute only 7% of its programming.[27]
The broadcasts onshortwave radio from Yle Radio were closed at the end of 2006.[28] Expatriate organisations had been campaigning for 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 theGulf of Finland region (558 kHz, 538m) remained on air for one more year.
In November 2005, MP Pertti Hemmilä (N) submitted a question inparliament about Yle's plans to end the availability of shortwave bands internationally. In his question, Hemmilä took up the low cost of the world band radio to the consumer travelling or living abroad. In her response, theMinister of Transport and Communications,Susanna Huovinen (S) noted that Yle would now be available via other means, such as throughsatellite and theinternet. She also underlined the fact that Yle is not under government control, but under indirect parliamentary supervision.[29]
TheCouncil for Mass Media in Finland criticised Yleisradio for restricting news reports about Prime MinisterJuha Sipilä's investments and business in 2017. The chief editor of Yle threatened the council by stating that the public broadcaster would resign from the council. Sipilä had been angry over Yle's reporting on theTalvivaara mine and Katera Steel (a company owned by Sipilä's relatives). Several reporters were barred by Yle's upper management from publishing news stories about the political connections between Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, the companies owned by his relatives and the state financing of the Talvivaara mine owned by Terrafame.[30]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| People | |
| Other | |
60°12′11″N24°55′32″E / 60.203135°N 24.92549°E /60.203135; 24.92549 (Iso Paja)
