Public service radio and TV in Sweden

Do you watch any TV at all? ..or listen to the radio? Today, when all media are available online, the differences between media aren’t perhaps so clear anymore. But both radio and television were there long before the internet, and they work even when you don’t have any wifi. Radio is the oldest. There have been radio broadcasts in Sweden for almost 100 years.

Today there are plenty of channels to choose from. We can divide the channels into two categories: those broadcast by Swedish Radio, and the private local radio stations. Swedish Radio broadcasts four channels nationwide, and more than 20 local channels. All of them are free from commercial breaks. Swedish Radio P1, is mostly talk radio: news, politics, culture, documentaries, and factual programmes.

In Swedish Radio P2, mostly you’ll find classical music, and programmes in other languages than Swedish. Swedish Radio P3 is aimed at a younger audience. It’s a lot of music and entertainment, and sometimes news. Swedish Radio P4 is a bit like P3, but for an older audience. The other category of radio channels is the private local radio.

The private radio channels include commercials, and play a lot of music. Compared to Swedish Radio channels, they’re most similar to P3. The TV channels in Sweden can be sorted into three groups. The first group contains the channels from Swedish Television - or SVT. They are broadcast without commercials and require no special subscription.

Then there are a few channels which can also be watched without paying any extra, but which do include commercials. And then there are a whole range of channels that you have to pay to watch. All three of these types of channel are broadcast from tall TV towers, and you can receive them with an ordinary antenna and a digital box. If you also have a satellite dish, or are connected to cable tv, then there are even more channels. Did you notice something here?

Among both radio and tv channels, there are a few that don’t include any commercials, but that you still can hear and watch without paying anything extra. These are the ones broadcast by Swedish Radio and Swedish Television. Together with the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company, UR, they make up the Swedish Public Service companies. The idea behind Public Service is for it to be media servicing the public. They are to be independent from both companies and political parties, and they are to make programs that contribute to democracy, education, and diversity.

Those radio and tv programs that are broadcast in the public service channels, are to be impartial and unbiased. That means that they may not benefit any particular company or political party, and that everything that is said has to be both true and relevant. If you hear or see a program that you find violating these rules, you can report that to the review board for radio and television. This consists of lawyers, journalists and researchers, who compare the programs that have been broadcast to the rules that govern what the Public Service companies are obliged and allowed to do. Since the Public Service companies are not broadcasting any commercials, they need to get money some other way.

It would of course be possible to let the state pay, by taking some of the tax revenue. But the idea is to make Public Service independent from the politicians. So instead, an extra radio and television fee is charged. All the other pay-to-watch-channels you can choose not to subscribe to. But you have to pay the radio and television fee whether you use SVT, SR or UR or not.

So, in that way the fee resembles a tax, but, this particular tax is not part of the state budget and Parliament cannot choose to spend it on other things. The reason is precisely, to make public service radio and television independent.