SVT World was an international

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

from the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

broadcaster

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

. The channel was available on satellite in Europe and much of Africa, Australia and Asia, terrestrially in parts of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and worldwide via IPTV. The broadcasts were mostly made up of the Swedish language programmes from SVT1 and SVT2. If both SVT1 and SVT2 show a programme for which SVT does not have international rights, programmes from

SVT24 SVT24, stylized as svt24, formerly known as SVT 24 (then stylized svt 24) or 24 is a Swedish language TV channel broadcast by Sveriges Television (SVT). It started broadcasting in 1999 as a dedicated news channel. In 2003 it extended its scope t ...

Kunskapskanalen Kunskapskanalen (in English: ''The Knowledge Channel'') is a Swedish language television channel broadcasting educational and factual programming between 9 a.m. and 01 a.m. all days of the week. The channel is operated by Sveriges Television (SV ...

are shown. When SVT1 and SVT2 are not broadcasting, SVT24 is shown. Teletext pages from SVT Text were included in the broadcasts. The radio channels

Radio Sweden Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

and SR P4 were also included with SVT Europa.

History

The channel launched in 1988 as TV4 broadcasting a mix of

SVT1 SVT1 (SVT Ett; commonly referred to as Ettan) is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden. History Television in Sweden officially launched on 4 September 1956 with the launch of '' ...

and

SVT2 SVT2 (SVT Två; commonly referred to as Tvåan), is one of the two main television channels broadcast by Sveriges Television in Sweden. Launched in 1969 by Sveriges Radio, the channel was until the 1990s the most watched in Sweden for many yea ...

terrestrially to the Swedish-speaking areas of southern Finland. The channel was later renamed SVT4. On December 10, 1997 the channel started broadcasting from the

Sirius 2 Astra 5A was one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES at the Astra 31.5°E. Launched in 1997 to the 5° East position by NSAB (Nordiska Satelit AB) (later SES Sirius, and now a non-autonomous part of SES) as Sir ...

satellite to all of Europe and was renamed SVT Europa. Initially, only regular households and hotels in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

were allowed to receive the channel, but in 1999, cable networks in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

were allowed to distribute the channel and in 2000 hotels outside the Nordic countries were allowed to include the channel. In 2005, SVT Europa started broadcasting on the

Thaicom 5 Thaicom 5 was a geostationary communications satellite operated by Thaicom. It was used to provide communications services to Asia, Africa, Middle East, Americas, Europe and Australia. Overview Thaicom 5 was constructed by Alcatel Alenia Space ...

satellite and thereby became available in parts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, although this requires a large satellite dish of about 2–3 metres. The broadcast stopped in April 2016. At a point, SVT Europa moved from Sirius 2 to Eurobird 9. Analogue terrestrial broadcasts in Finland ceased on 1 September 2007 when Finland switched completely to digital television. On that day, SVT Europa started broadcasting as a digital pay-TV channel there. In September 2011, however, it became a free-to-air channel again, sharing a channel with

Yle Fem Yle Fem (''Yle Five'') was Yle's Finland-Swedish national television channel, providing television programmes in the Swedish language in Finland. It was a public-service channel principally intended for Finland's Swedish-speaking minority. Cre ...

in southern Finland and the Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. To reflect the fact that the channel is now broadcast in four continents, its name was changed to SVT World in mid-April 2009. With the name change the channel moved its playout centre, which allowed it to broadcast in the widescreen format (instead of the 4:3 letterbox format used until then) and time-shift programmes to be broadcast when it is night-time in Sweden. The channel will also get new graphics. In October 2016, it was announced that the channel would be closed on 30 April 2017. The decision was taken because the business was no longer seen as economically viable, as a result of increased competition as well as the impending end of simulcasts of SVT World on

in Finland, when it and

Yle Teema Yle Teema was a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcasting company Yle. The channel was dedicated to culture, sciences and learning. The channel was known for its "Theme Saturday" (Teemalauantai/Tema Lördag) which ...

would eventually merge into a new single channel in April 2017.

Regional programming for the world

SVT World broadcast Regionala Nyheter (Regional News) throughout the world at 1:40–6:00 am (7:40 am – 1:00 pm).

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svt World International broadcasters

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Television channels and stations established in 1988 1988 establishments in Sweden Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in Sweden Defunct television channels in Sweden