Television in Iceland is composed of the public broadcasting service of RÚV, five free-to-view channels and a number of subscription channels provided by private broadcasters. Broadcasts began in 1955 when the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) started an English-language television service broadcasting from Naval Air Station Keflavik, which operated until 2006. The first Icelandic-language television broadcasts started in September 1966 with the launch of RÚV, originally called Sjónvarpið ("The Television"). In 1986, the first privately owned TV station, Stöð 2 ("Channel 2"), began broadcasts. In recent years, the emergence of foreign internet streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney+, has seen a shift from domestic providers provide similar on demand streaming services such as Síminn Premium and Stöð 2+.[1]
Channels can be received via digital terrestrial DVB-T2, digital satellite DVB-S and through managed IPTV providers such as Síminn and Vodafone. Over-the-top streaming via domestic and foreign providers is also increasingly used.
The digital switchover occurred in 2015 when the last RÚV analog transmitter was shut down.[2]