TV 2 Zulu

World Screen Weekly, July 13, 2006

CHANNEL NAME: TV 2 Zulu, Denmark

LAUNCH DATE: October 15, 2000

OWNERSHIP: TV 2 Zulu is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV 2/Danmark, which is itself state owned, but privatisation is expected within a few years. It is part of a digital bouquet of channels owned by TV 2. The others are TV 2 Charlie, which targets a more mature audience, TV 2 Film, a 24-hour film channel and TV 2 Sputnik, TV 2’s on-demand channel.

DISTRIBUTION: Cable and satellite.

HOUSEHOLDS: TV 2 Zulu reaches 60 percent of the Danish population, or 1.5 million households representing 3.2 million people.

DESCRIPTION: TV 2 Zulu is aimed at a younger audience, the 15- to 40-year-old group. In this demographic the channel currently enjoys a 5.1 percent share, making it Denmark’s fifth most-viewed channel. The channel is financed by a mixture of subscription fees and advertising. Its schedule consists mostly of comedy, sports, drama, entertainment, movies, kids’ and lifestyle programming.

CEO: Palle Strom

HEAD OF PROGRAMS: Keld Reinicke

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: “We like to think of the channel as E4 meets Comedy Central,” says Keld Reinicke, TV 2 Zulu’s head of programs. “TV 2 Zulu has a lot in common with Channel 4 in that both are publicly funded but still carry a public-service remit; and Comedy Central because there really wasn’t a station like that in Scandinavia, and we felt we had spotted a gap in the market. Essentially we want Zulu to be original and fun.”

The channel’s schedule is composed of approximately 80 percent acquired programming, virtually all of which is either British or American, and 20 percent original production. Its own formats include FC Zulu (FC Nerds), in which a bunch of nerdy kids are taken under the wing of a well-known soccer coach who then tries to turn them into a team; and Zulu Bingo, which, claims Reinicke, “puts a youthful twist on the older-skewing game of Bingo.” The broadcaster has also taken formats from other markets, such as E4’s Banzai and the BBC’s Shooting Stars, which, claims Reinicke, makes TV 2 Zulu the only channel in the world outside the U.K. to run the format.

And it has its own comedy too, such as Langt fra Las Vegas (Far From Las Vegas), which takes place in a fictional television station. “It is a bit like Frasier, but with humor which is much more slapstick and closer to British humor than American,” says Reinicke. A tendency he believes, “is true of Danish humor in general.” Underlining this is the channel’s other original comedy, Klovn (Clown), which, he acknowledges, “owes a lot to The Office, in that Klovn is also a ‘mockumentary’ with no laugh track.”

TV 2 Zulu also shows a lot of sport designed to complement the coverage on the main channel. It does this in two ways, explains Reinicke, “TV 2 has the rights to Wimbledon, so if the main channel is showing a big match on Center Court, we might well be following a Danish player on one of the outer courts.” Additionally TV 2 Zulu airs niche sports that are not scheduled on TV 2, a prime example being American NFL Football, which the channel takes directly from the NFL, and localizes the coverage with two studio-based Danish hosts and a Danish commentary track.

Prime time for TV 2 Zulu starts after 10 p.m. “This is because our audience is young and watches later, so they tend to turn on when the major terrestrial channels’ schedules are getting weaker,” explains Reinicke. A successful show on TV 2 Zulu will generally attract an audience of between 100,000 and 150,000, which equals a 2 percent and 3 percent share.

HOT TOPIC: “This is undoubtedly the development of interactive, which will come fully into its own when analogue is switched off in 2009,” says Reinicke. “I also believe that at this time it will be vitally important for TV 2 Zulu to expand its brand onto other digital platforms, especially mobile, and to significantly upgrade and expand its web presence."

WEBSITE: zulu.tv2.dk