När internet kom till Gärdet : En studie om public service på internet

In the mid-1990’s, the global computer network known as the Internet was introduced in Sweden. With this study, we are shining a light on the entrance of Swedish Public Service media on the Internet. The two major Swedish Public Service companies Sveriges Television (“Swedish Television”, also called SVT) and Sveriges Radio (“Swedish Radio”, also called SR) are included in this study. SR published its first website in 1994 and the site featured a presentation of the results from the Swedish parliament elections of that year. SVT published its first website in 1995, when the company wanted to find a way to develop the classic teletext. The reason why we are studying these companies is that we wanted to find out why two publically funded companies decided to enter the new and relatively unknown Internet platform at a time when only three percent of the Swedish population had Internet access at home. We have interviewed technicians and board members working for either SR or SVT at the time surrounding their entry on the Internet and we have also accessed board documents and other written information from the companies. The study shows that both SR and SVT had an early presence on the Internet but without really investing. The respective boards were unsure about the usefulness of the new platform and the technicians were working without getting, according to themselves, enough time and money. The situation changed at the beginning of the 21st century, after the timeframe of our study.