Sweden

[SE] Must carry Status on Norwegian and Danish TV Channels

IRIS 1997-6:1/20

Helene Hillerström

TV4 AB

A report report drafted by a Government appointed expert (utredningsman) has recently been published by the Swedish Ministry of Culture in which it is suggested that one public service channel from both Norway and Denmark be distributed by Swedish cable networks (in the USA referred to as cable systems) with must carry status, as currently SVT1, SVT2 and TV4 have. In Sweden 54% of the population have access to cable networks. Of the four main cable operators on the market, the Swedish telecom company, Telia , has the biggest number of subscribers. Danish TV can be seen by 12% of the Swedish population and Norwegian TV by 5% of the population. The report states that there are currently no technical obstacles to distribute two additional channels from neighbouring countries. The cable operators however have objected to the must carry status of two more channels due to the limited space available on their networks and due to the fact that Nordic channels, according to the cable operators, are not interesting enough from a commercial point of view, to justify their inclusion in the basic service tier.