Abstract
The regulation of national broadcasting is a forum for the official expression of a country's media priorities. Sweden has consistently attempted to prevent foreign broadcasters from establishing themselves in the Swedish mediasphere. Subsequently, wherever a non-Swedish broadcaster has demonstrated market demand for a media product not available in Sweden, the government has attempted to create a Swedish equivalent to meet public demand and prevent the loss of audience share to non-Swedish broadcasters.
This dynamic is especially clear in terms of the introduction of commercial broadcasting. Sweden was the last country in Western Europe to license a commercial television station, in 1992. This case study addresses the accommodation of the historically socialist government to the demands for commercial broadcasting, and the policy debates which informed these deliberations. It is argued that one reason for the Swedish government resisting commercial television was an opposition to the country's further integration within global capitalism, regardless of the fact that Swedish technology has helped the expansion of transnational broadcasting systems.
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