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Digital terrestrial television in Sweden

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Digital terrestrial television was launched in Sweden in 1999. The shutdown of the analogue equivalent started in 2005 and will be finished in 2007.

The network uses the DVB-T-standard and broadcasts several free-to-air and encrypted channels on a number of multiplexes. The majority of the channels are encrypted and viewing them requires a decoding card from Boxer TV Access (commonly referred to as "Boxer") which, as of 2007, is the only company allowed to sell decoding cards.

History

On April 9, 1997 the Swedish Riksdag decided that digital terrestrial television (DTT) was to be introduced in Sweden. In June 1998, the government decided which channels were to broadcast in the network. The channels that received a national license were: TV3, Kanal 5, Canal+, Kunskaps-TV i Sverige (to be K World), TV8 and Cell Internet Commerce Development (eTV) in additon to SVT1, SVT24 and TV4. Originally, only two multiplexes were planned and therefore SVT2 was omitted. However, before the launch a third multiplex was decided on and SVT2 would be allowed to broadcast.

Two companies were created to handle the encryption services, as all channels would be encrypted: Senda i Sverige who managed the system and decoding cards and Boxer who rented out set-top-boxes.

The digital terrestrial television network was launched on April 1, 1999 [1] making Sweden the second country in Europe to launch digital terrestrial television. It then contained only SVT1, SVT2 and SVT24. Five regional SVT channels launched some months later.

Private companies didn't launch until the autumn when TV3, TV4, Kanal 5, TV8, K World, Canal+ and eTV launched. Canal+ were granted two extra licenses to broadcast Canal+ Gul and Canal+ Blå. Boxer started their business in the autumn.

The take-up was slow at first. When the network had been running for six months, only about 500 households had rented the necessary set-top-boxes.

New licenses were granted in January 2000. A fourth multiplex was launched in the spring. After this, the DTT network looked like this:

MTG said they weren't allowed to use commercial breaks in the terrestrial network. The commercial break were replaced by captions. Kanal 5 did however continue broadcasting their commercial breaks as they did on satellite. In January 2001, MTG introduced an extra fee of 115 SEK for TV3, ZTV and TV8 to cover the losses made as they didn't broadcast advertising.

In June 2001, MTG decided to cease their terrestrial broadcasts in August, which they did. As they didn't broadcast anything at all, the license was taken back, making MTG claim that they were thrown out of the DTT network.

The five MTG were replaced by other channels during the autumn of 2001: Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, MTV Nordic, Nickelodeon/VH1 and Eurosport. TV4 were granted a license to broadcast CNN International.

During 2002, both eTV and K World went bankrupt. The SVT regional channels were closed down and replaced by an event channel called SVT Extra. NonStop Television started broadcasting a channel called E! in the autumn. Senda and Boxer merged on October 1, 2002 to form the new Boxer TV Access.

In December 2002, SVT launched the children's channel Barnkanalen followed in February 2003 by a relaunch of SVT24. TV4 launched their first major digital channel TV4 Plus i March.

During 2003 and 2004 the sale of set-top-boxes increased after several years of financial difficulties.

The shutdown of the analogue network was decided on in the spring of 2003.

In 2004 the launch of a fifth multiplex and more efficient compression made it possible to allow more channels to launch: Disney Channel, TV3, ZTV, TV4 Film, TV8, TCM, BBC World, Discovery Travel & Adventure and Showtime. This meant that MTG returned to the DTT network. They did broadcast free-to-air for some months, but in August they decided to scramble their broadcasts. 2004 also saw the launch of Kunskapskanalen from SVT and UR. At the end of 2004, the DTT networked looked like this:

In early 2005, TV8 was moved to MUX 3 which had higher coverage than MUX 5, which at start only covered 50 percent of the households. Several changes were made to the local programmes during 2005. TV4 started making their local stations available in the digital network (previously TV4 Stockholm was shown nationwide) and SVT started providing an alternative local output so the viewer could choose to watch a neighbouring region. New regional commercial channels started: ByTV Jämtland in Jämtland and Kanal Lokal in Stockholm, Göteborg and Skåne.

On September 19, 2005 the island of Gotland became the first region to have its analogue transmitters turned of. This continued during the autumn when the Gävle and Motala transmitters were shut down.

The fact that only the SVT channels, TV4 and the local channels were available free-to-air was a problem during the switch-off as those affected didn't feel they got enough in return for the trouble of having to buy set-top-boxes and in some cases a new antenna.

When new licenses for 2006 were pending, the Minister of Education and Culture Leif Pagrotsky stated that those broadcasters who were going to broadcast free-to-air would be more likely to receive a new license. New licenses were awarded in February 2006. This meant that:

  • Viasat would be awarded a license to broadcast TV6 round-the-clock in MUX 2
  • The newspaper Aftonbladet and Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation would share free-to-air one stream in MUX5. Aftonbladet would broadcast what became Aftonbladet TV7 on Weekdays while Axess TV was broadcast in the weekend.
  • SBS Broadcasting received one stream in MUX 4 that would be shared by The Voice TV and a channel called "C 5". The Voice TV would broadcast free-to-air from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. while "C 5", renamed ONE Television at launch, would broadcast 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
  • NonStop Television had to replace Showtime with a new channel called "NonStop Filmfestival". It launched in May as Silver.
  • BBC Prime would broadcast one pay channel in MUX 5.
  • Star! lost got its hours cut and would now broadcast in the Nickelodeon downtime from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
  • VH1, which was previously broadcast in the Nickelodeon downtime, would now broadcast "if space was available". Initially it did broadcast round-the-clock, but when this space was taken over by The Voice/ONE the channel disappeared. VH1 returned in June 2006, broadcasting overnight on the MTV's space.

In June 2006, SVT and TV4 did broadcast the 2006 FIFA World Cup i high-definition on temporary freqencies from a few transmitters. Those frequencies were taken back when the World Cup ended.

In December 2006, the new right-wing government decided that a sixth multiplex would be taken into regular use, initially only to secure that the broadcasts of TV Finland would be secured when the transmitter of the capital region was turned of.

The Boxer monopoly on pay television was criticized by the European Commission and on October 17, 2006 it announced would be taking Sweden to the European Court of Justice as the country had failed to abolish the monopoly.

SBS Broadcasting decided to replace ONE Television with a new channel called Kanal 9 in February 2007. With the launch of Kanal 9, they were allowed to adjust the Kanal 9/The Voice TV timeshare.

On May 26, 2007, SVT HD was launched on the remaining capacity of the multiplex that broadcast TV Finland, broadcasting HDTV programmes from four transmitters around the capital using MPEG-4 AVC compression.

Channels

LCN Channel Owner Availability Stream time MUX
1. SVT1 Sveriges Television Free-to-air 24 hours MUX1
2. SVT2 Sveriges Television Free-to-air 24 hours, regional variations. MUX1
3. TV3 Viasat Broadcasting Encrypted 24 hours MUX3
4. TV4 TV4 AB Free-to-air 24 hours, regional variations. MUX2
5. Kanal 5 SBS Broadcasting Group Encrypted 24 hours MUX3
6. TV6 Viasat Broadcasting Free-to-air 24 hours MUX2
7. Eurosport Sweden Encrypted 24 hours MUX4
8. Discovery Channel Discovery Networks Europe Encrypted 24 hours MUX4
9. MTV Sweden MTV Networks Europe Encrypted 07.00-02.00 MUX4
10. TV4 Plus TV4 AB Encrypted 24 hours MUX2
11. Canal+ Film 1 SBS Broadcasting Group Encrypted 24 hours MUX3
12. Canal+ Film 2 Sport Weekend SBS Broadcasting Group Encrypted 24 hours MUX3
13. Canal+ Sport 1 SBS Broadcasting Group Encrypted 24 hours MUX3
14. TV4 Film TV4 AB Encrypted 24 hours MUX2
15. TCM Turner Broadcasting System Encrypted 24 hours MUX5
17. Silver NonStop Television Encrypted 24 hours MUX5
20. Animal Planet Discovery Networks Europe Encrypted 24 hours MUX4
21. Discovery Travel & Living Discovery Networks Europe Encrypted 24 hours MUX5
22. BBC World BBC Worldwide Encrypted 24 hours MUX5
23. TV8 Viasat Broadcasting Encrypted 24 hours MUX3
24. TV4 Fakta TV4 AB Encrypted 24 hours MUX2
25. Axess TV Free-to-air Saturdays and Sundays MUX5
26. CNN International Turner Broadcasting System Encrypted 24 hours MUX2
30. Nickelodeon MTV Networks Europe Encrypted 06.00-18.00 MUX4
31. Disney Channel The Walt Disney Company Encrypted 06.00-22.00 MUX3
40. VH1 Europe MTV Networks Europe Encrypted 02.00-07.00 MUX4
41. ZTV Viasat Broadcasting Encrypted 24 hours MUX4
42. The Voice TV SBS Broadcasting Group Free-to-air In Kanal 9 downtime MUX4
50. TV400 TV4 AB Encrypted 24 hours MUX2
51. Star! Scandinavia NonStop Television Encrypted 18:00-06:00 MUX4
52. Kanal 9 SBS Broadcasting Group Encrypted Weekdays: 17:40-5:40
Weekends:14:30-2:30 		MUX4
54. BBC Prime BBC Worldwide Encrypted 24 hours MUX5
55. Aftonbladet TV7 Aftonbladet Free-to-air Weekdays MUX5
80. Canal 7 Encrypted From 22.00 MUX3
81. Kanal Lokal Göteborg Free-to-air 24 hours
Available in some regions. 		MUX5
Kanal Lokal Skåne
Kanal Lokal Stockholm
Kanal Lokal Östergötland
91. SVT1 Talande textremsa Sveriges Television Free-to-air 24 hours (audio stream) MUX1
92. SVT2 Talande textremsa Sveriges Television Free-to-air 24 hours (audio stream) MUX1
96. SVT Extra Sveriges Television Free-to-air No regular broadcast MUX1
97. Extra version of SVT2 in most regions. MUX1
98. Barnkanalen/Kunskapskanalen Sveriges Television Free-to-air 24 hours MUX1
99. SVT24 Sveriges Television Free-to-air 24 hours, regional variations. MUX1

Notes

  1. ^ En guide till digital-TV (PDF), Swedish Radio and TV Authority, 2000, p. page 11, ISBN 91-973833-2-5 {{citation}}: |page= has extra text (help)
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