KvF cuts workforce by 10%

Bad news for those of you who consume KvF content beyond News in English.

National broadcaster Kringvarp Føroya yesterday issued layoff notices to 11 full-time equivalents, about 10 percent of its staff, as part of drastic cost-saving measures.

“This is a very sad day for us. We have to face the harsh reality that our revenues cannot keep up with the rising costs,” KvF CEO Ivan Niclasen said yesterday.

"As a public institution, we do not receive any government funding to offset the effects of rising prices. The licence fee, our main income source, has remained unchanged since 2016. Sadly, this is our only option at this point.”

Culture minister Sirið Stenberg said yesterday that the government is looking at ways to peg the licence fee to inflation.

Big changes to programme schedule

The job cuts will lead to a big drop in the production of Faroese content. Here are some of the changes expected over the coming weeks:

- Live coverage of the annual New Year’s concert by the symphony orchestra, along with many major cultural and sports events, will be cancelled.

- Hourly radio news bulletins between 12.20pm and 5pm will be dropped.

- There will be fewer music and culture programmes.

- The annual production of Faroese documentaries will shrink from 40 per year to 25.

- This year’s radio advent calendar for children has been cancelled.

- Radio news analysis programme ‘Breddin’ will drop from four times per week to three.

- Sports coverage will decrease significantly.

It appears that News in English will continue as normal.

Read the Faroese versions of this article here and here.

English version by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.