For many Swedes, watching TV is a way to round off a working day or to get together with the family and watch something exciting together.
In line with the development of technology, everything has become more digitized, so has television viewing, where we can today be reached by content from a whole host of streaming services.
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The streaming giants are fighting for customers
Services such as Netflix, Viaplay, TV4 Play, Disney+ and Max have contributed to changes in viewing over time. In the past, it wasn’t unusual to head to the video store to rent a VHS for the weekend, but now you can access millions of movies, series, and sporting events at the touch of a button.
In times where the streaming giants compete for the same customers, there is a constant war over both rights and pricing.
Nyheter24 recently wrote that the streaming giant Disney+ is raising its prices for the premium subscription from SEK 890 to SEK 1,190 in annual cost.
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The streaming giants are raising prices
However, Disney+ isn’t the only streaming service that recently raised prices. Even the video platform Youtube recently went out with information to its premium users that the cost will rise.
You who have YouTube premium have previously paid SEK 119 a month. That cost now rises to SEK 149 instead.
The cost of family subscriptions is also increasing at the streaming giant. The previous price for a family subscription was SEK 179 a month, but is now being increased by SEK 100. This means an annual cost of over SEK 3,300.
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Photo: Martina Holmberg/TT500,000 Swedes break the law
As the streaming companies fight over everything from rights to customers, another, illegal variant of television viewing has increased in recent years, namely IPTV.
Today, over half a million Swedes use some form of illegal IPTV subscription.
During the summer of 2024, a person in Sweden was sentenced to a suspended sentence, 100 day fines and a compensation claim of a whopping SEK 2.7 million after running an illegal IPTV service and distributing it to consumers.
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Photo: Fred Ernst/TT This is why it is not possible to prosecute the criminals
However, it is not only the distribution of an illegal television service that violates Swedish law. It is also illegal to buy and use IPTV. But despite that, no verdict has been handed down against private individuals in the country who buy the service.
In an interview with Swedish Radio account Markus SjödinSeucrity Manager at Nordic Content Protection, that the Swedish legislation is not adapted to new technology. Thus, those who buy the service get away.
– The law is not applicable to the new technology. There is no prosecutor who wanted to prosecute, and therefore there is no judgment regarding customers, he says.
Since 2021, however, the number of users of the illegal IPTV service has doubled. And according to Sjödin, it works by criminals stealing the material and then distributing it further.
– It’s about criminals stealing the TV content from TV companies and TV distributors and sending it on via their own servers to customers who are prepared to pay for this stolen content.
The current legislation does not make it possible for customers of illegal IPTV to be prosecuted, the police told SR. However, it is something that in the long run causes major consequences on the television market, which can affect the customers who pay for streaming services as the companies need to demand more money from the customers.
– If you don’t get paid for the content you own, it will have consequences in that you won’t have money left to invest again or to pay your staff.
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