Radio and TV transmission, other than via satellite, are subject to agreements between, on the one hand, the government and, on the other hand, the public service radio and TV companies, and TV4, a private company. The TV Authority, established in 1994, is responsible for regulations on commercial and satellite transmissions. It is also the licensing and registration authority for local and similar radio stations, temporary transmissions and distribution by cable and satellite companies, and collects fees from local radio and commercial TV transmissions within Sweden. The Radio and Television Act (Radiolagen, Swedish Code of Statutes 1966:755, 1978:476), applicable to television companies under Swedish jurisdiction, contains a provision equivalent to Articles 4 and 5 of the European Union Television Broadcasting Directive. This Act regulates that more than half of the annual broadcasting time, or at least 10 percent shall be of programmes of European origin, and that at least 10 percent of the annual broadcasting time, or at least 10 percent of the programme budget shall be allocated to programmes of European origin, produced by independent producers. As large a proportion as possible of these programmes should have been produced in the preceding five years. The television companies should report annually to the Swedish Radio and TV Authority on how they have complied with these regulations.
The freedom of expression on radio, television and in other audiovisual modes of transmissions, as well as in films, video recordings, sound recordings, and other audiovisual recordings, are regulated and guaranteed in the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression (1991:1469).
Until 2011, Sweden had a Law on Film Censorship, protecting the public from, e.g. overly violent content. Although this legislation was in force until recently, censorship was only seldom used. Following the recommendation of a government commission (SOU 2009:51) censorship for adults was abolished on 1 January 2011 (Government Bill 2009/10:228) and replaced by a Law on age limits for film that is to be shown publicly, (Swedish Code of Statutes 2010:1882). Similar objectives are now reached by The Swedish Media Council via age limits on films.
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