SVT

What is SVT?

SVT is Sveriges Television AB, the name printed in the footer of its sport section at svt.se/sport, which also names Johanna Bäckström Lerneby as ansvarig utgivare for the section.^[1] It is one of three public service companies. The government's bill Prop. 2024/25:166 of 22 May 2025 states: “Public service-verksamheten, som startade 1925, bedrivs i dag av programföretagen SR, SVT och UR. Public service-företagen ägs av en stiftelse – Förvaltningsstiftelsen för Sveriges Radio AB, Sveriges Television AB och Sveriges Utbildningsradio AB. Förvaltningsstiftelsen äger och förvaltar samtliga aktier i public service-företagen.”^[4]

The company's statutory base changed in 2025. Lag (2025:986) om public service, issued on 30 October 2025 and in force from 2 December 2025, defines the assignment in 2 kap. 1 § as consisting in “att bedriva radio- och tv-verksamhet i allmänhetens tjänst och verksamhet som är direkt anknuten till denna, enligt bestämmelserna i denna lag, regeringens beslut med stöd av denna lag och regeringens beslut med stöd av radio- och tv-lagen (2010:696)”. Its 2 kap. 2 § provides: “Public service-uppdraget ska bedrivas självständigt i förhållande till såväl staten som ekonomiska, politiska och andra intressen och maktsfärer i samhället, och verksamheten ska präglas av oberoende och stark integritet.”^[3] The consolidated text read runs to SFS 2025:1448.^[3]

Funding is fixed by the same Act. Its 5 kap. 1 § reads: “En public service-avgift ska finansiera den verksamhet som framgår av 2 kap. 1 §. Avgiften får inte finansiera någon annan verksamhet.”^[3] The licence to broadcast follows from the assignment: under 4 kap. 3 § of the Radio- och tv-lag (2010:696), consolidated to SFS 2025:990, “Regeringen ger tillstånd att sända tv och sökbar text-tv till den som har ett uppdrag enligt lagen (2025:986) om public service. Mediemyndigheten ger tillstånd i övriga fall.”^[5] The government decided SVT's present assignment on 4 December 2025.^[9]

What does SVT cover?

SVT's sport output is published on a path of its main domain, svt.se/sport. On 24 September 2026 the section carried reports from SHL games of 22 September, including Rögle's win over Djurgården and Frölunda's overtime win over Färjestad, and it listed broadcasts scheduled for 25 to 27 September, including a press conference before Sweden's Nations League match against Romania, the final weekend of a volleyball European Championship, a women's handball international between France and Sweden, and a Women's Super League match between Chelsea and Arsenal.^[1]

Athletics is part of the output. SVT's guide to Finnkampen 2026, the athletics international between Sweden and Finland, published on 1 July 2026 and updated on 31 August 2026, states: “Finnkampen sänds i SVT, se TV-tider och tidsprogram här i vår guide”. The guide gives the venue as the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.^[2]

SVT's own assignment addresses sport in its sponsorship rule. The government's decision of 4 December 2025 on SVT's public service assignment for 2026 to 2033, Ku2025/00057, bars sponsored programmes where the contribution goes to SVT directly, and its 13 § continues: “Utan hinder av första stycket får direkt sponsring förekomma i SVT:s sändningar och tillhandahållanden i samband med sportevenemang”, and for the Eurovision Song Contest final when SVT arranges it. The exception does not apply to programmes aimed mainly at children under 12, and “Inom ramen för ovanstående bestämmelser får sponsring förekomma i samband med högst 20 evenemang per år, i genomsnitt, under uppdragsperioden.”^[9]

The law sets a frame for major sporting events that applies to every broadcaster, SVT included. Under 5 kap. 9 § of the Radio- och tv-lag, a broadcaster holding exclusive television rights to an event “som är av särskild vikt för det svenska samhället” may not, if it broadcasts the event, use the right so that a substantial part of the public in Sweden is shut out from seeing it live in free television or, where there is objective ground, with a slight delay. The section limits this to events that occur at most once a year and that interest a broad public in Sweden, and closes: “Regeringen meddelar föreskrifter om vilka evenemang som är av särskild vikt för det svenska samhället.”^[5]

How large is SVT's audience?

Television viewing in Sweden is measured by MMS. The figure here is MMS's as reported by the state media authority, Mediemyndigheten, in its Mediekonsumtion 2025 report.^[6]

That report states, citing MMS Årsrapport 2024: “Tittartiden på TV4 var 27,4 minuter per dag och på SVT1 var den 23,7 minuter per dag 2024.”^[6] That is an average daily viewing time over the whole of 2024 for one channel, SVT1. It is not a reach figure, it does not cover SVT's other channels or its streaming service, and it is not a figure for sport.

No audience figure specific to SVT's sport output could be retrieved.

A financial scale is on record from the same authority. Mediemyndigheten's Medieekonomi 2024 report states: “Den största mottagaren, SVT, redovisade en samlad omsättning på 5 531 miljoner kronor 2023”.^[7] That is turnover, not audience.

Since when has SVT existed?

The founding date of SVT as a company is not given in the documents retrieved for this page, and SVT's own history pages could not be retrieved. What the documents do date is the public service system it belongs to.

The government's bill Prop. 2024/25:166 of 22 May 2025 states that public service broadcasting in Sweden “startade 1925” and is conducted today by SR, SVT and UR, all owned by one foundation.^[4] That is the government's statement about the system, not a founding date for SVT itself.

The present legal form is recent: Lag (2025:986) om public service entered into force on 2 December 2025, and the current assignment runs from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2033.^[3][9]

Why does SVT matter in Sweden's sport?

It matters first because it is a statutory broadcaster. Its assignment, its independence requirement and its funding are set by Lag (2025:986), and its broadcasting licence comes from the government under the Radio- och tv-lag rather than from the media authority.^[3][5]

It matters second because it carries recurring national fixtures. SVT's own guide states that it broadcasts Finnkampen, the athletics international between Sweden and Finland, and its sport section reports the SHL in the season's opening weeks.^[2][1]

It matters third because the political frame around it is changing, as a named monitoring body has recorded. Reporters Without Borders, which places Sweden fifth of 180 in its 2026 Index with a score of 87.61, states: “The latest contributions to an ongoing debate on public media content and funding include a parliamentary report in the spring of 2024 and a call by the Sweden Democrats party for more control.”^[8] RSF's media landscape entry adds that “concentration within the broadcasting sector is particularly pronounced”.^[8]