Sveriges Television

Infobox Network
network_name = Sveriges Television (SVT)
name =
network_



network_type = Broadcast television network
branding =
airdate =
country = SWE
available = National
founded = 1979
founder =
slogan = "Fri Television" ("Free Television")
motto =
market_share =
license_area =
broadcast_area =
area =
erp =
owner = Förvaltningsstiftelsen för Sveriges Radio, Sveriges Television och Sveriges Utbildningsradio
key_people = Lars Engqvist (s), Chairman of the board
Eva Hamilton, Chief executive officer
launch_date = September 4, 1956
closure_date =
past_names = Radiotjänst (1956–1957)
Sveriges Radio TV (1957–1979)
digital =
analog =
servicename1 = Channels
service1 = SVT1, SVT2, SVT24, SVTB, SVTK, SVT HD, SVT Play, SVT Europe and SVT UR
servicename2 =
service2 =
servicename3 =
service3 =
servicename4 =
service4 =
callsigns =
callsign =
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
affiliates =
groups =
affiliation =
affiliations =
former_affiliations =
website = [http://www.svt.se/ www.svt.se]
footnotes =

Sveriges Television AB (SVT, Audio|SVT_Swedish.ogg|Pronunciation) is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by an obligatory fee payable by all Television-owners. The Swedish public broadcasting system is in several respects modeled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Television shares many traits with its British counterpart, the BBC.

Sveriges Television is a public limited company and is owned by an independent foundation, Förvaltningsstiftelsen för Sveriges Radio AB. This foundation's members are politicians appointed by the government. SVT is funded through a special licensing fee, which is allocated by the Swedish Riksdag, and also by regular government taxes. SVTs regulatory framework is by Swedish law and has its board and chairman appointed by the Swedish government. It is now separate from, but was until 1979 part of, Sveriges Radio, which is the public radio broadcaster. Its status could be described as that of a quasi-autonomous non-government organization.

Sveriges Television maintained a monopoly in domestic terrestrial broadcasting from the start in 1956 until the privately held TV4 started broadcasting terrestrially in 1992, and it is still banned from showing advertisements except in the case of sponsors for major sporting events. Until the launch of the Swedish language satellite television channel TV3 in 1987, Sveriges Television provided the only Swedish television available to the public. SVT is still the biggest TV network in Sweden, with an audience share of 36.4%.

History

When radio broadcasting was organized in the 1920s, it was decided to adopt a model similar to the one of the British Broadcasting Company in the United Kingdom. The radio would be a monopoly funded by a license fee and organized as a limited company, Radiotjänst ("Radio service"), owned by the radio industry and the press. [Citation|title=Television i Sverige - Ägande och struktur|date=1996|page=page 7|publisher=Ministry of Culture] The transmitters were owned by the state through Telegrafverket and the press held a monopoly on newscasts through Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå. AB Radiotjänst was one of 23 founding broadcasting organizations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. The membership is currently jointly held by SVT, SR and UR.

Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå lost its monopoly on newscasts de jure in 1947 and de facto in 1956, but otherwise the same model would be applied to television.Citation|title=Television i Sverige - Ägande och struktur|date=1996|page=page 8|publisher=Ministry of Culture]

It was decided to start test transmissions of television in June 1954. The first transmissions were made on October 29, 1954 from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

In 1956, the Riksdag made the decision to permanent television broadcasting. Transmissions were officially started in Sweden by Radiotjänst on September 4 the same year using the new Nacka transmitter. A television license for those owning a television set was introduced in October.

Television started broadcasting regularly in 1957. At the same time, Radiotjänst was renamed Sveriges Radio (SR) and its ownership changed. The state and the press would have equaled 40% shares, while the company would own 20% (in 1967, the state increased its share to 60% at the expense of the press).

In 1958, the first newscast, "Aktuellt", was broadcast. During the 1960s a second TV channel was frequently discussed. The discussions resulted in the start of TV2 on December 5, 1969. The first channel was named TV1 and the two channels were supposed to broadcast in "stimulating competition" within the same company.Citation|title=Television i Sverige - Ägande och struktur|date=1996|page=page 9|publisher=Ministry of Culture]

1970 saw the start of the first regional programme, "Sydnytt" from Malmö. More regional news programmes launched in 1972 and the entire country was covered by regional news programmes by 1987 when "ABC" from Stockholm started.

When TV2 started the news programmes were reorganized. "Aktuellt" was cut and replaced with "TV-nytt", which was in charge of the main 7:30 bulletin on TV1 as well as news updates on both channels. In addition, the two channels would get one "commenting bulletin" each. TV2 got "Rapport" and TV1 got "Nu". [cite book|last=Larsson|first=Sören|authorlink=Sören Larsson|title=Allt hände i Aktuellt - 40 år på en nyhetsredaktion|publisher=Sveriges Radios förlag|year=1998|isbn=91-522-1806-6|pages=pages 87-94]

In 1972, the news was reorganized once again. "Rapport" was moved to the 7:30 slot on TV2, "Aktuellt" was revived and would broadcast at 6 and 9 on TV1. [cite book|last=Larsson|first=Sören|authorlink=Sören Larsson|title=Allt hände i Aktuellt - 40 år på en nyhetsredaktion|publisher=Sveriges Radios förlag|year=1998|isbn=91-522-1806-6|pages=pages 115-116] Those timeslots would mostly stay unchanged for the following decades.

In 1966, the first color broadcast was made. In 1970, regular color broadcasts were introduced. Teletext started in 1978.

At the end of the 70s SR was reorganized. From 1 July, 1979, Sveriges Radio AB became the mother of four companies: Sveriges Riksradio (RR) for national radio, Sveriges Lokalradio (LRAB) for local radio, Sveriges Utbildningsradio (UR) for educational broadcasting and Sveriges Television (SVT) for television. SVT would provide all television broadcasting, except for educational programming which was the responsibility of Sveriges Utbildningsradio. The abbreviation SVT is said to have been chosen since STV was already occupied by Scottish Television in the EBU.

The two channels were re-organized in 1987. TV1 was renamed Kanal 1 and contained almost all programmes produced in Stockholm, while TV2 consisted of the ten regional districts and the "Rapport" news desk.

Broadcasts in Nicam Stereo were made permanent in 1988. This year also saw the launch of a channel called TV4 in southern Finland, broadcasting content from SVT for Finland-Swedes. The channel is known as SVT Europa since 1997, when it started broadcasting to all of Europe through satellite.

In 1992, the Riksdag decided that Sveriges Radio would reorganize once again into three independent companies (with RR and LRAB merged). From 1994, they would be owned by three independent foundations. The three foundations would later change into one foundation. [Citation|title=Television i Sverige - Ägande och struktur|date=1996|page=page 10|publisher=Ministry of Culture]

In 1990, broadcasts would usually start at 4 p.m. and finish before midnight. The 1990s saw an increase in broadcasting time with reruns in the afternoon, a morning show and lunch-time news bulletins. SVT also met competition from the young commercial broadcasters. TV3 became the first channel to break the SVT state-monopoly on Swedish-language television and in 1992, the newly elected right-wing parliament allowed TV4 to start broadcasts in the terrestrially. They soon established nationwide coverage and in 1995, TV4 passed TV2 in the overall ratings and became the nation's most viewed channel.

In 1996, the channels were once again reorganized. The previous organization and competition between the two channels disappeared as they became part of a single organization. Kanal 1 and TV2 were renamed SVT1 and SVT2. The first season of "Expedition: Robinson" (Survivor) was shown in 1997.

The first digital terrestrial television-broadcasts (DTT) took place in 1999. SVT started six new channels, the news channel SVT24 and five regional channels. 2000 saw the reorganization of the news desks. Aktuellt, Rapport and SVT24 were merged into one central news desk.

In 2001 a new logo and new programme schedules, among other things, were introduced. This made SVT1 the broader mainstream channel with higher ratings and SVT2 the narrower channel. The main news bulletins at 7:30 and 9 switched channels with "Aktuellt", now shown on SVT2, and "Rapport", on SVT1.

The regional channels were shut down in the beginning of 2002 and were replaced by SVT Extra. In December 2002, a new channel known as Barnkanalen began showing children's programmes during the day. On February 24, 2003 SVT24 and SVT Extra were renamed "24", a theme channel for news and sports. Also in 2003, all the SVT channels dropped their encryption in the DTT network.

On June 25, 2003, SVT broadcast their first programme with 5.1 sound on DTT. The first 5.1-show was Allsång på Skansen. In November 2004, SVT added two audio streams that read the translation subtitles on SVT1 and SVT2. The knowledge-oriented channel Kunskapskanalen started broadcasting in September 2004.

The shutdown of analogue transmitters started in 2005 on Gotland. By 2007 all analogue transmissions from SVT will have ceased.

SVT started VODcasting some programs in February 2006. Altogether three broadcasters competed to be the first one to VODcast in Sweden. In the end, all three started in the same week.

SVT made their first broadcasts in high definition television during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in a channel operated in co-operation with TV4 AB. Regular high definition broadcasting started in the SVT HD channel October 22, 2006. The first programme was the movie "Lost in Translation", followed the next day by the 50th anniversary tribute to television in Sweden, which was the first live entertainment programme to be broadcast in high definition in Sweden. On August 25, 2008, a new set of logos were introduced on the network, and Barnkanalen renamed to SVTB.

Programming

News

News programmes are an important part of SVT. Since 1972 there have been two main news programmes: Rapport and Aktuellt (translated "Report" and "Current [events] ", respectively). The two news programmes had completely separate organizations, meaning a lot of duplicated coverage was provided. After some co-operation in the 1990s, the two programmes were allowed to merge in 2000 with the newly created SVT24 to form a single organization. The different programme names and identities were kept, however. Eventually, Rapport has become the main news programme, and Aktuellt will only broadcast one bulletin per day from autumn 2007.

The main national news bulletins are Aktuellt at 6 o'clock, Rapport at 7.30 and the more in-depth Aktuellt at 9. Additionally, news bulletins are shown in the mornings and throughout the day on SVT1 and SVT24. These use the Rapport brand. SVT also broadcast video news on the Internet through a service called Play Rapport.

SVT also provides three minority news programmes: Uutiset in Finnish, Ođđasat in Sami and Nyhetstecken in Swedish Sign Language.

Right-wing Swedish commentators have criticized the news as being biased in favor of the leftwing parties. According to the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg, a disproportionate number of journalists support the socialist parties as opposed to the conservative, liberal or centrist ones compared to the Swedish public. In 1999, 33 percent of the journalists on SVT and SR supported the Left Party, which was about the same as journalists in commercial broadcasting and print media, but significantly less than among the general public, among whom 15 percent supported the Left Party. Support for the Left Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party was stronger among journalists on SVT and SR than the general public, while the Moderate Party, the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats had significantly less support among SVT and SR journalists than the public. [http://www.jmg.gu.se/pdf/jmgdata/journalist2000.pdf JMGdata 2000 Journalisternas partisympatier] ] However, the study concluded that the private political opinions of the journalists had little impact on their work and that news stories are treated the same regardless of the political color of the journalist ] . Also, the University of Gothenburg made another study during the Swedish 2006 general election, comparing SVT's news programme Rapport to the country's five largest newspapers. The study concluded that Rapport's coverage of the election was the most balanced of them all [ [http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=572&a=551058&previousRenderType=2 Dagens Nyheter, June 9 2006] ] .

Entertainment

Entertainment shows on Fridays and Saturdays are, together with popular sports, the programmes that attract the largest audiences.
*"Melodifestivalen" (1959-), the pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, is very popular in Sweden. The final generally gets around 4 million viewers.
*"Expedition Robinson" (1997-2004), the Swedish version of Survivor. Sveriges Television was the first network to broadcast the reality television series Survivor in 1997. The show, with a name alluding to Robinson Crusoe, was a major hit in Sweden. The show which consistently held high ratings was concluded after its seventh and final year on the network (the final season aired 2003-2004). The popular series was continued on the commercial channel TV3, but with much lower ratings.
*"På spåret" (1987-present), popular entertainment show in which celebrities answer questions related to different locations.
*"Så ska det låta" (1997-), the Swedish adaptation of "The Lyrics Board" which has on several occasions reached more than 3 million viewers.
*"Allsång på Skansen" (1979-) Broadcast live from Skansen in Stockholm, this popular summer show features sing-alongs with Swedish folk music,
*"Antikrundan" (1989-), the Swedish version of "Antiques Roadshow" which has often attracted approximately 2 million viewers.

Sveriges Television hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1985, 1992 and 2000, and also as a part of Sveriges Radio in 1975.

Drama

SVT produces drama in several genres and forms.
*"Rederiet" (1992-2002) was one of the most popular soap operas in Sweden.

Regional programming

Regional content is almost solely restricted to news which is broadcast four times every weekday in SVT2. The eighteen news programmes are: ABC,Blekingenytt, Dalarna, Gävleborg, Hallandsnytt, Jämtlandsnytt, Jönköpingsnytt, Mittnytt, Nordnytt, Smålandsnytt, Sydnytt, Tvärsnytt, Uppland, Värmlandsnytt, Västerbottensnytt, Västmanlandsnytt, Västnytt and Östnytt.

Children

The children's strand Bolibompa broadcasted every day at 6 p.m. on SVT1, before moving to SVTB in August 2008.

Non-Swedish

SVT also broadcasts foreign programs, primarily from the USA and the UK, in original language with subtitles, as is the case on other Nordic TV channels.The only cases in which dubbing is widespread is in programs aimed directly at children who aren't expected to have learned reading skills yet.

33% of the national first-time broadcasts consisted of foreign content in 2005. Of all acquired content (including Swedish content not made by SVT) 27% came from the United States, 22 from the United Kingdom, 13% from Sweden, 13% from the other Nordic countries, 6% from France, 4% from Germany and 9% from the rest of Europe. [ [http://svt.se/content/1/c6/07/20/42/SVT_05_Webb.pdf SVT Årsredovisning 2005] page 28 (in Swedish)]

SVT often cooperates with the other Nordic television companies through the Nordvision. Thus, many Danish, Norwegian and Finnish programmes are shown on SVT, while DR, NRK, YLE, SVF and RÚV show Swedish programmes.

Channels

SVT has five regular channels broadcasting to Sweden:
*SVT1 - The main channel with broad content. The 10 most seen Swedish TV shows in 2006 were shown on this channel.
*SVT2 - A channel with slightly narrower programming with an a emphasis on culture, current affairs and documentaries.
*SVT24 - Reruns of programmes from SVT1 and SVT2 in the evening, a service similar to C-SPAN during the day, much sport in the weekends and continuous news updates.
*SVTB - Barnkanalen, "Childrens Channel", a children’s channel broadcasting during daytime.
*Kunskapskanalen, "The Knowledge Channel", broadcasting between 20.00-01.00 in cooperation with the UR.

In addition to these channels, SVT has a special events channel called SVT Extra. It is generally unused and was (as of 2006) last used for live coverage during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. In 2006, SVT launched a high-definition channel called SVT HD, simulcasting HD versions of programmes on the other SVT channels.

All channels, except SVT HD, are available in most of Sweden through the digital terrestrial television network and encrypted from Thor and Sirius satellites. Until the September 2005, both SVT1 and SVT2 were available nationwide via analogue terrestrial transmitters. Cable networks are required to broadcast four SVT channels for free in either digital or analogue form.

SVT Europa, a mix of the SVT channels, is broadcast on satellite, and also as a terrestrial channel in Swedish-speaking areas of southern Finland. For rights reasons, SVT Europa does not show acquired material, such as movies, sport, or English language programming.

SVT1, SVT2, SVTB, SVT24, and Kunskapskanalen are also available through DTT on Åland [cite web|url=http://www.radiotv.aland.fi/presentation.con?iPage=6&m=46|title=Utsändningar|publisher=Ålands radio/tv|accessdate=2007-07-29] and can be distributed on Finnish cable networks. In Österbotten, Finland, two transmitters are broadcasting SVT1 and SVT2 in analogue form to the Swedish-speaking population. The signals from the terrestrial transmitters in Sweden can be received in some areas of Denmark and Norway near Sweden. Cable networks there generally re-distribute SVT1 and SVT2.

SVT considers their website, svt.se, a channel on its own. SVT also provides an on-demand service called SVT Play through which most of the programmes produced for SVT are available.

Organization

The executive management of SVT is handled by a CEO, appointed by the board. As of 2007, Eva Hamilton is CEO. The Chairman of the Board is Lars Engqvist, deputy Prime Minister of the previous Social Democratic government.

SVT is divided into eight operative programme-producing units. Four of these are located in Stockholm; the other four are located around the country and are based on the ten TV2 districts which were merged in 2000. The regional units are:
*SVT Syd (SVT Malmö and SVT Växjö), main production location: Malmö
*SVT Väst (SVT Göteborg), main production location: Göteborg
*SVT Mellansverige (SVT Falun, Dövas TV Leksand, SVT Karlstad, SVT Örebro and SVT Norrköping), main production location: Norrköping
*SVT Nord (formerly SVT Luleå, SVT Umeå and SVT Sundsvall), main production location: UmeåThe four districts produce several types of programmes for national broadcasting as well as ten of the eleven regional news programmes. Several of the news programmes also have local offices in their region.

The Stockholm-based units are:
*SVT Nyheter & Samhälle, taking care of the national news operations as well as society programming, culture and journalistic documentaries made in the capital and regional news programme ABC.
*SVT Sport, sports news and broadcasting
*SVT Fiktion, handling drama production, entertainment, youth and children's programmes etcetera.
*SVTi, takes care of svt.se, the Internet archive service "Öppet arkiv", mobile services, "super teletext" and other interactive services.

Chair of the Board of Directors

*Anna-Greta Leijon, 1994–2000
*Allan Larsson, 2000–2005
*Lars Engqvist, 2005 – present

Chief executive officers

Before the company Sveriges Television was created in 1978, the television broadcasting was controlled by channel controllers. Erik Baehrentz was the controller between 1958-1968. He was succeeded by Håkan Unsgaard who became TV1's controller in 1968 and Örjan Wallquist who became the TV2 controller in 1969.

*Magnus Faxén, 1978–1981
*Sam Nilsson, 1981–1999
*Maria Curman, 2000–2001
*Christina Jutterström, 2001–2006
*Eva Hamilton, 2006 – present

When Sam Nilsson retired, the executive chair was split between a CEO and a Programme Officer. This position was abolished in 2007.
*Mikael Olsson, 2000–2000
*Leif Jakobsson, 2001–2007

Viewing

Since the arrival of commercial television, the combined SVT share of the viewing has declined steadily, and the digital niche channels have also provided competition. The first time the commercial TV4 was the largest channel for a full year was in 1995 and they maintained this position until 2002 when SVT1 passed TV4. TV4 became the most watched channel again in 2006.

The combined viewing share passed 50% in 1997 and 40% in 2005. SVT is however still the most watched television company in Sweden with a share of 38.3% in 2006.

Although SVT is still the company with the highest viewing share, they have trouble attracting younger viewers. Among the 15-24 agers, all three major commercial channels are larger than the two SVT channels combined. [ [http://www.mms.se/arsrapp/%C5rsrapport%202006.pdf Årsrapport 2006] , MMS]

See also

*Radiotjänst i Kiruna
*Swedish Broadcasting Commission
*Swedish Radio and TV Authority
*Sveriges Utbildningsradio
*Teracom
*TV4
*Viasat
*List of Swedish television channels

References

External links

* [http://svt.se Sveriges Television] sv icon
* [http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=1975 SVT television schedule]
* [http://svt.se/play SVT Play, a video on demand service]
* [http://svt.se/podd-tv SVT VODcasts]