Hanne Bruun

Political Satire in Danish Television: Reinventing a Tradition

This article highlights political satire as part of a long tradition of satirical sketch comedy in Danish public service television. Since the late 1990s, however, there have been major changes to this entertainment tradition. Taking these developments as a point of departure, this article argues that political satire has been trying to reinvent itself under these new conditions. By focusing more and more on the media themselves as the target for satirical ridicule, political satire is reshaping the ideological ambiguity typical of this entertainment tradition. In spite of these current efforts, political satire is presently a struggling branch of the satirical sketch comedy tradition in Danish public service television.

Producing the on-air schedule in Danish public service television in the digital era

This article presents results from a production study on how the on-air schedule is changing in the digital era at the Danish public service broadcaster, TV 2. TV 2’s multichannel and increasingly non-linear television portfolio has a profound impact on the production practices involved in order to meet the public service obligations. The analysis shows that the producers develop new ways to secure an audience of scale under these conditions. So far three lessons are learned: First, the workflow of promoting content and the demands on the qualities of the promotional material have changed. Second, an understanding of the interplay between flow and subscribtion-video-on-demand (SVOD) scheduling is emerging. And third, a renewed focus is put on branding the viewer–provider relationship. The article concludes that the production of on-air scheduling makes the contours of what can be termed ‘a third television paradigm’ visible in which a distinction between linear and non-linear television does not apply.