TV4 AB
Encyclopedia
TV4 Group is a Swedish media company that owns the largest commercial television
channel in Sweden
, TV4.
Since 2007, the company is fully owned by Bonnier through Nordic Broadcasting Oy. The stock used to be traded at the Stockholm Stock Exchange
but was removed from the stock exchange when Bonnier took full control of the company.
In an interesting move, two Swedish filmmakers sued the TV4 Group over copyright infringement in November 2004 for placing commercials during their film's TV broadcasts. This was unexpected, given that commercial broadcasters around the world normally interrupt their programs to make money. Surprisingly, the filmmakers won. Though the verdict lacks any real effect, contracts today are written with a clause that commercial breaks will take place and both filmmakers claimed it to be a victory for directors in Sweden.
The company also owns TV4 Sverige AB that owns all the 25 local stations and TV4 Digitala Medier that includes the TV4 Groups Text-TV and internet services like the websites tv4.se and nyheterna.se and on-demand service TV4 Play. The TV4 Group is also involved in the selling of merchandising, DVDs, CDs, magazines and books relating to the television programmes.
Since December 2008, the C More Entertainment
group is included in the TV4 Group. It broadcasts the following thirteen channels to Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark:
In addition, the TV4 Group operates several themed channels in corporation with MTV Oy in Finland and TV 2 Gruppen in Norway:
It took several years for Leijonborg and Bergvall to find someone willing to invest in their channel, but it was eventually launched on September 15, 1990 as "TV4", broadcasting from the Tele-X
satellite. A Norwegian sister channel, TV4 Norway
, was also launched, but was sold a few years later.
At the time, it was clear that the government intended to launch a third terrestrial station and that it would be commercially funded. The two main competitors for the new channel were Nordisk Television and Kinnevik (owners of TV3
). Eventually it was Nordisk Television who got the license since Kinnevik agreed to withdraw their application. In exchange, Kinnevik bought 30 percent of Nordisk Television and a company called Airtime AB was set up to sell advertising in TV3 and TV4, giving Kinnevik control of almost all television advertising in Sweden. TV4 could start broadcasting terrestrially in the spring of 1992. Nordisk Television discontinued the Airtime agreement in 1993, a decision followed by years of discussion between Kinnevik and the other owners of the company.
Nordisk Television started trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
in 1994 and changed its legal name to TV4 AB.
With the terrestrial license followed an obligation to give some airtime to different local companies. This would regularly be owned by the TV4 Group in conjunction with local investors and media companies. With the start of TV4 Uppland the number of regional stations reached sixteen. Eventually, the TV4 Group started buying local stations and in 2001 they owned all but one, TV4 Fyrstad, which went bankrupt in 2003. The TV4 Group then merged all regional stations into a single entity, TV4 Sverige AB.
TV4 started broadcasting in the digital terrestrial television
network in 1999. In 2001, the TV4 Group started an experimental interactive channel called Mediteve using the space on the digital multiplex. In 2003, a general entertainment channel called TV4 Plus
was started. It was followed by TV4 Film
in 2004, and TV400 and TV4 Fakta
in 2005.
For several years, the TV-channels of the TV4 Group wasn't a part of Kinnevik's digital satellite platform Viasat
. However, in April 2005, TV4 Plus, TV4 Film and TV400 were launched on Viasat (the TV4 Group channel had to wait until 2006 due to contracts with the Canal Digital
platform).
In the digital television franchise round of 2006, the TV4 Group applied for three new digital channels, but none of them were given a license. They did however launch two new channels in November 2006: TV4 Komedi
and TV4 Guld
.
In May 2006, the TV4 Group bought 51 percent of the sports channel Sport-Expressen
from the newspaper Expressen
. The ownership was increased to 66.2 percent in May 2007 and the channel was relaunched as TV4 Sport in September 2007.
In November 2006, it was announced that Bonnier and Proventus
would buy the share in the TV4 Group AB that was then held by Schibsted
. The deal was approved in December 2006, making the TV4 Group AB almost entirely owned by Nordic Broadcasting Oy, a company owned jointly by Bonnier and Proventus. Proventus sold its shares in Nordic Broadcasting to Bonnier in March 2007, making it a fully owned subsidiary of Bonnier.
In early 2008 changed its legal name to TV4-Gruppen (TV4 Group)
version of TV4 (until 31 January 2008). As of 2005, TV4 is transmitted free-to-air
on the digital terrestrial network while TV4 Plus, TV4 Film, TV400 and TV4 Fakta require subscription from Boxer
, Canal Digital
or Viasat
via satellite, or cable TV from several cable networks, including Tele2Vision
, Com Hem
and Canal Digital
. TV4 Plus is available in analogue form via most cable TV networks, while the others are mostly digital-only.
See also: List of Swedish television channels
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
channel in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, TV4.
Since 2007, the company is fully owned by Bonnier through Nordic Broadcasting Oy. The stock used to be traded at the Stockholm Stock Exchange
Stockholm Stock Exchange
The Stockholm Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863 it is the primary securities exchange of the Nordic Countries....
but was removed from the stock exchange when Bonnier took full control of the company.
In an interesting move, two Swedish filmmakers sued the TV4 Group over copyright infringement in November 2004 for placing commercials during their film's TV broadcasts. This was unexpected, given that commercial broadcasters around the world normally interrupt their programs to make money. Surprisingly, the filmmakers won. Though the verdict lacks any real effect, contracts today are written with a clause that commercial breaks will take place and both filmmakers claimed it to be a victory for directors in Sweden.
Businesses
TV4 Group broadcasts the following channels:- TV4
- Sjuan, formerly TV4 Plus, launched in March 2003 broadcasting sport, games and entertainment.
- TV4 FilmTV4 FilmTV4 Film is a Swedish film channel owned by TV4 AB.TV4 applied for a license to broadcast a film channel terrestrially in the autumn of 2003 and were granted a license in December...
, launched in April 2004 broadcasting uninterrupted movies. - TV11, launched in January 2005 with the name TV400 broadcasting youth-oriented entertainment, replacing the interactive Med i teve.
- TV4 FaktaTV4 FaktaTV4 Fakta is a Swedish documentary channel owned by TV4 Group. It started broadcasting in 2005.Much of the programming is taken from the A&E Television Networks. Since December 2005, the remainder of the schedule is filled with the English language Euronews...
, launched in September 2005, originally planned as a news channel, but eventually becoming a channel only broadcasting documentaries. - TV4 SportTV4 SportTV4 Sport is a Swedish sports television channel owned by television company TV4 AB, with the tabloid news paper Expressen owning a minor share.- History :The channel was originally owned by Expressen who launched the channel on 17 March 2005...
(66.2% ownership), sports station in conjunction with daily tabloid Expressen. - TV4 KomediTV4 KomediTV4 Komedi is a sister subchannel of Swedish TV4, owned by TV4 AB. The channel focuses on comedy only with sitcoms, comedy shows and talk shows...
, launched in November 2006. Focuses on comediesComedyComedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
. - TV4 GuldTV4 GuldTV4 Guld is a Swedish television channel devoted to "classic" programmes such as older television dramas.The channel launched on November 3, simultaneously with its sister channel TV4 Komedi, on satellite from Canal Digital and cable from Com Hem...
, launched in November 2006. This channel airs classic TV shows. - TV4 HDTV4 HDTV4 HD is a Swedish high-definition television channel from TV4 AB.TV4 made their first broadcasts in high-definition during the 2006 FIFA World Cup on a channel called HD-kanalen in co-operation with Sveriges Television...
, launched in May 2007, high-definitionHigh-definition televisionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
simulcast of TV4. - TV4 Science fictionTV4 Science fictionTV4 Science fiction is a television channel dedicated to the science fiction genre owned by TV4 AB. When the channel was announced, TV4 said that it would launch simultaneously in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, becoming the first TV4 channel to launched in all four countries. The channel was...
, launched in February 2008 broadcasting science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
The company also owns TV4 Sverige AB that owns all the 25 local stations and TV4 Digitala Medier that includes the TV4 Groups Text-TV and internet services like the websites tv4.se and nyheterna.se and on-demand service TV4 Play. The TV4 Group is also involved in the selling of merchandising, DVDs, CDs, magazines and books relating to the television programmes.
Since December 2008, the C More Entertainment
C More Entertainment
C More Entertainment is a premium television company, operating under the banner CANAL+, that targets the Nordic Countries and with one separate channel in Sweden ....
group is included in the TV4 Group. It broadcasts the following thirteen channels to Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark:
- Canal+ FirstCanal+ FirstCanal+ First is a Scandinavian premium television channel owned by C More Entertainment showing movies and TV shows. It is the flagship movie channel of the Nordic Canal+ package. The channel shows big hollywood blockbusters as well as Scandinavian movies...
- Canal+ HitsCanal+ HitsCanal+ Hits is a Scandinavian premium television channel showing movies and TV shows. The channel shows big blockbusters, independent movies, classic movies, movies from the whole world and erotic movies....
- Canal+ ActionCanal+ ActionCanal+ Action is a Scandinavian premium television channel showing action films, horror movies and Thrillers. They also show television shows related to these genres. The channel was previously known as Canal+ Film 3.- See also :* Canal+* Canal+ HD...
- Canal+ SeriesCanal+ SeriesCanal+ Series is a Scandinavian premium television channel showing movies and TV shows. It replaced Canal+ Comedy on April 1, 2010....
- Canal+ DramaCanal+ DramaCanal+ Drama is a Scandinavian premium television channel showing a drama movies and television shows. The channel was previously known as Canal+ Mix...
- Canal+ Film HDCanal+ Film HD"Canal+ HD" redirects here. For the French simulcast channel of Canal+ ,see Canal+.For the Spanish simulcast channel of Canal+ ,see Canal+ Spain....
- Canal+ Sport 1Canal+ Sport 1 (Scandinavia)Canal+ Sport 1 is the name of four Scandinavian sports channels owned by C More Entertainment. They launched as the pan-Nordic Canal+ Sport on May 1, 2004 when C More introduced themed channels for movies and sports. On September 1, 2005, most sports broadcasts were moved to Canal+ Sport and...
(four different channels) - Canal+ Sport 2Canal+ Sport 2 (Scandinavia)Canal+ Sport 2 is a Scandinavian sports channel.- See also :* Canal+* Canal+ HD* Canal+ First* Canal+ Hits* Canal+ Action* Canal+ Sport...
- Canal+ Sport Extra
- Canal+ Sport HDCanal+ Sport HDCanal+ Sport HD is a premium high-definition television channel owned by C More Entertainment, which is a part of TV4 AB. It broadcasts sports in high definition....
In addition, the TV4 Group operates several themed channels in corporation with MTV Oy in Finland and TV 2 Gruppen in Norway:
- Sub LeffaSub LeffaMTV3 Leffa is a Finnish television channel broadcasting movies. It is operated by MTV3 and TV4 AB and is the Finnish equivalent of TV4's movie channel TV4 Film.The most of the programming is shared with TV4 Film...
- MTV3 FaktaMTV3 FaktaMTV3 Fakta is a Finnish documentary channel owned and operated by MTV3. It started broadcasting in November 2006.- External links :*...
- MTV3 ScifiMTV3 Scifi-External links:*...
- MTV3 SarjaMTV3 SarjaMTV3 Sarja is a Finnish television own and operated by MTV3 in cooperation with the TV4 Group. It is a Finnish version of TV4 Guld.-External links:*...
- TV 2 Science FictionTV 2 Science FictionTV 2 Science Fiction is a Norwegian television channel showing science fiction programs, TV-series and movies. The channel is run in cooperation with the Swedish channel TV4 Science fiction and as of April 2009 is available only as a Web-TV channel . The channel will later be available on TV 2's...
History
The TV4 Group was founded in 1984 by Ingemar Leijonborg och Gunnar Bergvall as Nordisk Television AB ("Nordic Television"). They intended to start a Swedish commercial television channel.It took several years for Leijonborg and Bergvall to find someone willing to invest in their channel, but it was eventually launched on September 15, 1990 as "TV4", broadcasting from the Tele-X
Tele-X
Tele-X was the first communications satellite serving the Nordic countries. It was launched with an Ariane 2 rocket from Kourou, French Guyana, on April 2, 1989. On January 16, 1998, its fuel was exhausted and it was moved into graveyard orbit...
satellite. A Norwegian sister channel, TV4 Norway
TV4 Norge
TV4 Norge was a Norwegian television channel owned by TV4 AB. TV4 Norge started in 1990 and was shut down in 1992 because it didn't make enough money. It was broadcast from the Intelsat VA F-12 satellite on 1 degree west.-External links:*...
, was also launched, but was sold a few years later.
At the time, it was clear that the government intended to launch a third terrestrial station and that it would be commercially funded. The two main competitors for the new channel were Nordisk Television and Kinnevik (owners of TV3
TV3 (Sweden)
TV3 is a television channel targeted at a Swedish language audience owned by Viasat . It was founded on 31 December 1987 by entrepreneur Jan Stenbeck as joint Scandinavian channel, but Denmark and Norway soon got their own versions of TV3...
). Eventually it was Nordisk Television who got the license since Kinnevik agreed to withdraw their application. In exchange, Kinnevik bought 30 percent of Nordisk Television and a company called Airtime AB was set up to sell advertising in TV3 and TV4, giving Kinnevik control of almost all television advertising in Sweden. TV4 could start broadcasting terrestrially in the spring of 1992. Nordisk Television discontinued the Airtime agreement in 1993, a decision followed by years of discussion between Kinnevik and the other owners of the company.
Nordisk Television started trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
Stockholm Stock Exchange
The Stockholm Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863 it is the primary securities exchange of the Nordic Countries....
in 1994 and changed its legal name to TV4 AB.
With the terrestrial license followed an obligation to give some airtime to different local companies. This would regularly be owned by the TV4 Group in conjunction with local investors and media companies. With the start of TV4 Uppland the number of regional stations reached sixteen. Eventually, the TV4 Group started buying local stations and in 2001 they owned all but one, TV4 Fyrstad, which went bankrupt in 2003. The TV4 Group then merged all regional stations into a single entity, TV4 Sverige AB.
TV4 started broadcasting in the digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
network in 1999. In 2001, the TV4 Group started an experimental interactive channel called Mediteve using the space on the digital multiplex. In 2003, a general entertainment channel called TV4 Plus
TV4 Plus
Sjuan is a sister channel of Swedish TV4, owned by TV4 AB. The main focus of the channel is on entertainment, sports and lifestyle programmes. The channel started as TV4 Plus in 2003 but changed name to Sjuan in September 2011....
was started. It was followed by TV4 Film
TV4 Film
TV4 Film is a Swedish film channel owned by TV4 AB.TV4 applied for a license to broadcast a film channel terrestrially in the autumn of 2003 and were granted a license in December...
in 2004, and TV400 and TV4 Fakta
TV4 Fakta
TV4 Fakta is a Swedish documentary channel owned by TV4 Group. It started broadcasting in 2005.Much of the programming is taken from the A&E Television Networks. Since December 2005, the remainder of the schedule is filled with the English language Euronews...
in 2005.
For several years, the TV-channels of the TV4 Group wasn't a part of Kinnevik's digital satellite platform Viasat
Viasat
Viasat is a DBS distributor and TV broadcaster, owned by the Swedish media conglomerate Modern Times Group. Broadcasting from London, the target markets are in the Nordic and the Baltic Countries...
. However, in April 2005, TV4 Plus, TV4 Film and TV400 were launched on Viasat (the TV4 Group channel had to wait until 2006 due to contracts with the Canal Digital
Canal Digital
Canal Digital is a Scandinavian television distributor and internet service provider that was founded in March 1997 as a joint venture between the French pay-TV company Canal+ and the Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor...
platform).
In the digital television franchise round of 2006, the TV4 Group applied for three new digital channels, but none of them were given a license. They did however launch two new channels in November 2006: TV4 Komedi
TV4 Komedi
TV4 Komedi is a sister subchannel of Swedish TV4, owned by TV4 AB. The channel focuses on comedy only with sitcoms, comedy shows and talk shows...
and TV4 Guld
TV4 Guld
TV4 Guld is a Swedish television channel devoted to "classic" programmes such as older television dramas.The channel launched on November 3, simultaneously with its sister channel TV4 Komedi, on satellite from Canal Digital and cable from Com Hem...
.
In May 2006, the TV4 Group bought 51 percent of the sports channel Sport-Expressen
TV4 Sport
TV4 Sport is a Swedish sports television channel owned by television company TV4 AB, with the tabloid news paper Expressen owning a minor share.- History :The channel was originally owned by Expressen who launched the channel on 17 March 2005...
from the newspaper Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
. The ownership was increased to 66.2 percent in May 2007 and the channel was relaunched as TV4 Sport in September 2007.
In November 2006, it was announced that Bonnier and Proventus
Proventus
Proventus is a privately held Swedish investment company founded in 1980 by Robert Weil. It was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange from 1982 until 1995....
would buy the share in the TV4 Group AB that was then held by Schibsted
Schibsted
Schibsted is a Norwegian media conglomerate with operations in 20 countries, the most important being Norway and Sweden. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange....
. The deal was approved in December 2006, making the TV4 Group AB almost entirely owned by Nordic Broadcasting Oy, a company owned jointly by Bonnier and Proventus. Proventus sold its shares in Nordic Broadcasting to Bonnier in March 2007, making it a fully owned subsidiary of Bonnier.
In early 2008 changed its legal name to TV4-Gruppen (TV4 Group)
Availability of channels
Laws in Sweden state that all television operators must carry the analogueAnalog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
version of TV4 (until 31 January 2008). As of 2005, TV4 is transmitted free-to-air
Free-to-air
Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
on the digital terrestrial network while TV4 Plus, TV4 Film, TV400 and TV4 Fakta require subscription from Boxer
Boxer TV Access
Boxer TV Access is a Swedish company providing pay television channels on the digital terrestrial television network in Sweden. Modeled on the British ITV Digital, it was founded in October 1999. Some channels on the Swedish DTT are free-to-air, but most of the channels require subscription from...
, Canal Digital
Canal Digital
Canal Digital is a Scandinavian television distributor and internet service provider that was founded in March 1997 as a joint venture between the French pay-TV company Canal+ and the Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor...
or Viasat
Viasat
Viasat is a DBS distributor and TV broadcaster, owned by the Swedish media conglomerate Modern Times Group. Broadcasting from London, the target markets are in the Nordic and the Baltic Countries...
via satellite, or cable TV from several cable networks, including Tele2Vision
Tele2Vision
Tele2Vision is a Swedish cable television distributor owned by Tele2. It was started in 1986 .Tele2 was relatively late in adopting digital television, broadcasting analogue only until early 2006...
, Com Hem
Com Hem
Com Hem AB of Sweden, supplies triple play services that include cable tv, digital television, broadband, telephony and HDTV.Founded in 1983 as Televerket Kabel-TV as part of the former state-owned Televerket, the company has been successively named Svenska Kabel-TV AB and Telia InfoMedia...
and Canal Digital
Canal Digital
Canal Digital is a Scandinavian television distributor and internet service provider that was founded in March 1997 as a joint venture between the French pay-TV company Canal+ and the Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor...
. TV4 Plus is available in analogue form via most cable TV networks, while the others are mostly digital-only.
See also: List of Swedish television channels