Sweden is the third largest country in Europe and the population is concentrated to the southern part, while only one of nine million people live in the much more sparsely populated northern part. However, the supply of news media is satisfactory wherever people live. Newspapers are distributed all over the country, broadcast media reach all regions and broadband infrastructure is well developed.
Swedish daily newspapers are available for subscription all over the country, and evening tabloids are sold everywhere. Traditionally, local and regional newspapers have relatively strong market positions and cover all parts of Sweden. The number of newspaper titles has gradually decreased, but is still high compared to other countries. In 2008, 155 dailies existed in Sweden and 64 of them were published five days a week or more (TS-boken 2009). The newspaper market is rather stable in terms of the number of titles. on explanation for this is the state press subsidy system that has existed in Sweden since 1971. The system supports newspapers with a weak market position in order to keep them in the market. The biggest changes in availability can be noted in suburban metropolitan areas. New free newspapers in city areas like Metro, which is distributed in public areas and transportation systems, have been commercially successful. Most people, 64 % in the age range 15-85 years, claimed in 2008 that they lived in a household with a daily newspaper subscription (Carlsson & Facht 2010).
Broadcast media markets have historically been characterized by a de-facto monopoly of public service radio and public service television covering the whole nation. For the past 40 years, both public service radio and TV have offered regional news and programmes. An exclusive public service radio channel for 25 regional stations was established in 1977. Due to the introduction of new media technologies and an active deregulation of media policy (supported by a majority of the political parties) in the early 1990s, the number of available radio stations and television channels has increased dramatically. In 2008, there were 53 public service radio stations (4 FM, 7 digital, 27 regional and 15 on the Web), 89 local commercial radio stations and 150 community radio stations. The same year there were 7 public service TV channels and 51 Swedish private TV channels available to the audience (Carlsson & Facht 2010). Digitalization of the national television net was completed in fall 2007. Digital terrestrial television, satellite and cable are three almost equally important distribution systems in Sweden today. In 2008, 44 % of households used cable TV, 38 % DTT, 23 % satellite and 6 % IP-TV (radio- och TV-verket 2009). There is no national commercial radio station in Sweden.
Internet infrastructure is well developed and broadband connections are now available for the majority of Swedish households. In 2008, around 3.5 million people or 82 % of all Internet customers were connected via broadband (Carlsson & Facht 2010). All national news media and all leading regional media offer online news services. Basic news is free, but additional content may sometimes require monthly subscriptions.
National news media, and some of the major regional news media companies, also offer mobile news for free. The mobile 3G net covers major parts of the nation. The next generation of 4G is implemented in some geographic areas, as in metropolitan regions, but the plan is to develop the net all over the nation in forthcoming years.
