Sveriges Television

SVT is the Swedish national public TV broadcaster, funded by a television licence fee payable by all owners of television sets, and set by the Riksdag.

Sveriges Television AB, Sweden's Television is a public limited company that can be described as a quasi-autonomous non-government organisation. Together with the other two public broadcasters, Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Utbildningsradio, it is owned by an independent foundation, Förvaltningsstiftelsen för Sveriges Radio AB, Sveriges Television AB och Sveriges Utbildningsradio AB, The foundation's board consists of 13 politicians, representing the political parties in the Riksdag and appointed by the Government. The foundation in turn appoints the members of the SVT board. SVTs regulatory framework is governed by Swedish law. Originally, SVT and Sveriges Radio were a joint company, but since 1979 they and Sveriges Utbildningsradio are sister companies sharing some joint services.

SVT maintained a monopoly in domestic terrestrial broadcasting from the start in 1956 until the privately held TV4 started broadcasting terrestrially in 1992. It is barred from accepting advertisements except in the case of sponsors for 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 percent.