TV4 Group
 |
|
| Private (subsidiary of Bonnier) | |
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | , Sweden |
|
Key people
|
(CEO), (chairman) |
| Services | Broadcasting |
| Revenue |
 3,86 Billion SEK (2012)
|
|
Number of employees
|
330 |
| Parent | BONNIER Euro Holding AB |
| Website | http://tv4gruppen.se/ |
TV4 Group (previously known as Nordisk Television AB and TV4 AB) is a Swedish media company that owns the largest commercial television channel in Sweden, TV4.
Since 2007, the company is fully owned by Bonnier through . The stock used to be traded at the but was removed from the stock exchange when Bonnier took full control of the company.
In an interesting move, two Swedish filmmakers sued the TV4 Group over copyright infringement in November 2004 for placing commercials during their film's TV broadcasts. This was unexpected, given that commercial broadcasters around the world normally interrupt their programs to make money. Surprisingly, the filmmakers won. Though the verdict lacks any real effect, contracts today are written with a clause that commercial breaks will take place and both filmmakers claimed it to be a victory for directors in Sweden.
TV4 Group broadcasts the following channels:
The company also owns TV4 Sverige AB that owns all the 25 local stations and TV4 Digitala Medier that includes the TV4 Groups Text-TV and internet services like the websites tv4.se and nyheterna.se and on-demand service TV4 Play. The TV4 Group is also involved in the selling of merchandising, DVDs, CDs, magazines and books relating to the television programmes.
Since December 2008, the C More Entertainment group is included in the TV4 Group. It broadcasts the following thirteen channels to Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark:
In addition, the TV4 Group operates several themed channels in corporation with MTV Oy in Finland and TV 2 Gruppen in Norway:
Closed channels:
The TV4 Group was founded in 1984 by Ingemar Leijonborg och Gunnar Bergvall as Nordisk Television AB ("Nordic Television"). They intended to start a Swedish commercial television channel.
It took several years for Leijonborg and Bergvall to find someone willing to invest in their channel, but it was eventually launched on September 15, 1990 as "TV4", broadcasting from the Tele-X satellite. A Norwegian sister channel, TV4 Norway, was also launched, but was sold a few years later.
At the time, it was clear that the government intended to launch a third terrestrial station and that it would be commercially funded. The two main competitors for the new channel were Nordisk Television and Kinnevik (owners of TV3). Eventually it was Nordisk Television who got the license since Kinnevik agreed to withdraw their application. In exchange, Kinnevik bought 30 percent of Nordisk Television and a company called was set up to sell advertising in TV3 and TV4, giving Kinnevik control of almost all television advertising in Sweden. TV4 could start broadcasting terrestrially in the spring of 1992. Nordisk Television discontinued the Airtime agreement in 1993, a decision followed by years of discussion between Kinnevik and the other owners of the company.
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Wikipedia