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Sweden – (E5) Affordable public and private news media

Score in short:

More money is spent on the media.

Score in detail:

Prices for newspapers, broadcast media and Internet are reasonable, as Sweden is a comparably rich country. The annual license fee for public TV was € 211.40 in 2008, slightly cheaper than in the other Nordic countries (Carlsson & Harrie 2010). The payment rate is high, with about 90 % of Swedish households paying the license fee. National surveys have confirmed that most Swedes think it is morally unacceptable to try to avoid paying the fee. There is no specific license fee for public service radio, as this service is included in the TV license fee.

Swedish households also spend much more money on private television, and pay-TV is the fastest expanding financing model on the television market in Sweden. Television viewers paid almost five times more for TV in 2006, compared to ten years before, despite the fact that the total viewing time has been fairly constant (approx. two hours/day) (Engblom & Wormbs 2007).

In 2008, the average price for an annual subscription to a daily regional newspaper was € 201.22 and € 311.11 for a metropolitan newspaper. Since 2000, the price of regional newspapers has increased by 12 % and the price for metropolitan papers has increased by 30 % (Carlsson & Facht 2010).