“Swedish TV too American” says EU

The EU Commission has expressed concerns over Swedish TV channels airing too much American material. According to a directive adopted a couple of years ago, at least 50 percent of the programme schedule should contain European productions. But the latest figures show that all the Swedish TV channels put together only managed to entertain their viewers with 45 percent coming from Europe.

Apart from Latvia, Sweden is the only country which does not live up to the 50 percent rule. Even the Nordic neighbours show more European productions. 80 percent of the Danish programme schedule comes from an EU country, and Finnish viewers get nearly 70 percent. In Sweden, only public service broadcaster SVT airs considerably more than 50 percent.