TV 2 will not allow large screen events outside bars and cafes during the summer tournament. It’s a own goal when TV 2 will not allow large screen events during the European Championship in football this summer at bars and cafes. This is the view of a number of politicians who are reacting to the announcement from the station, which has bought the rights and is partially subject to a public service obligation. – TV 2 as a public service station has an obligation to support that there can be popular football events around the country, writes cultural spokesperson Mogens Jensen (Social Democratic Party) in a message. He expects the channel to find a solution so there can be celebrations throughout the country this summer. But TV 2 has told Ekstra Bladet that it will not be possible to gather hundreds of people for large screen events outside cafes and bars like in 2021, when there was the European Championship in football and celebrations in Denmark.
– I am here to run a business. We do not want to give away what we have bought at great expense. When we have bought a share in the European Championship in football, it is because we believe we can make a good business out of it, says sports director Frederik Lauesen from TV 2 to the newspaper. In an interview with Ekstra Bladet, he states that the limit is set at a maximum of 200 people. Bars and cafes can however apply for an exemption.
Main channel TV 2 is subject to public service obligations while the other channels and services are operated on purely commercial terms. This means that there is a requirement that the main channel must offer for example news, sports, and culture. The Socialist People’s Party (SF) is also upset. – I actually almost have no words for how far out it is. Honestly, shouldn’t we rather try to come together around all the great football events. – And then TV 2 will surely make plenty of money. They already do, says cultural spokesperson Charlotte Broman from SF. She doesn’t put much weight on the argument that TV 2 needs to make money because the TV station already earns plenty of money.
Political spokesperson Pelle Dragsted (The Red-Green Alliance) reminds us that TV 2’s slogan is “A part of something bigger”. He calls it a mistake. – It was precisely those large screen events that created a wonderful football summer in 2021. It was a fantastic public celebration where high and low and thick and thin followed our national team’s journey to the quarterfinals together. – This is what TV 2 is now putting an end to. Why? To skim the cream and earn more money. They say it openly, he writes on Facebook.