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Television Luckily for us, Sweden is a country which loves American films, music and television programs, so you’ll probably still be able to see many of your favorite dramas and sitcoms while living here.
The main television stations are Channels 1 and 2 (SVT1 and SVT2), Channel 3 (TV3), Channel 4 (TV4), Channel 5 (Kanal 5), Channel 6 (Nature/Action), Channel 8 and ZTV. Some of the more common international or European stations are CNN International, Discovery, Cartoon Network (most cartoons dubbed in Swedish), Animal Planet, MTV, VH-1 and The History Channel. Some of the movie channels available are TV1000, Canal+ and TV4 Film. Channels 1, 2 and 4 are available on antenna. All others are available only with satellite or cable connections. Channels 1 and 2 are state-owned, public service channels which are supported by a mandatory TV tax which is collected by Radiotjänst. Every household in Sweden which contains any type of device capable of receiving a television signal is required by law to pay the tax, even if you don't watch those particular channels. Because of the public support, there are commercials only between (and not during) programs, but most of the programming is in Swedish. You’ll find more familiar American programming on Channels 3, 4 and 5. A few online TV-guide-type sources for finding out what's playing at any time on almost any channel are TVInfo.se, DagensTv.com, TVprogram.nu and TV.nu. And if you're looking for the TV schedule on a Swedish web site, click on tablå or tablåer. Text-TV If your Swedish is up to par, you’ll find enormous amounts of information through Text-TV on channels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. You'll find domestic news (inrikes nyheter), international news (utrikes nyheter), weather (väder), stock market information (börsen), programming guides and information, recipes (recept), classified and personal ads (annonser), pleasure (nöje), travel deals (resor) and much, much more. It's like having TV Guide built right into your TV! To use it, go to the desired channel and press the Text-TV button on your remote control - the index page (page 100) will appear first. From there, you can press in the 3-digit code for any available page you wish (or use your up- and down-arrow keys to "surf" one page at a time). The text information is slightly different on the different channels, so these page numbers are general only: a contents (innehåll) page can usually be found on 101 (but on page 700 for channels 1 and 2 and page 790 for channel 4)); news items are located in the 100s; page 600 usually has an index for television programs and succeeding pages (601, 602 etc) usually have that channel's daily schedule; stock market information begins around page 200; sports is around 300; pleasure on 700; travel and weather on 400....and so on. You get the general idea - but check the contents page for more specific page locations. To see "what's on now" (på TV just nu or pågående program) and coming programs in one table for channels 1 through 5, go to text page 601 on channel 4 and flip upward through the pages (601-609) or see pages 650-655 on channels 1 and 2. The better your Swedish, of course, the more you'll get out of Text-TV. You can also use it to bring up Swedish subtitles (when available) for different Swedish programs. That might even help you with your Swedish skills if you're a visual learner. Putting on the text for Swedish television programs, such as those on channels 1 and 2, may help you learn Swedish quicker! For example, if you were going to watch a show on Channel 1, you can push the Text-TV button on your remote control, press the 3-digit code 1-9-9, and the text for that program will appear. You just press the Text-TV button on your remote once more to cancel it. Note that texting for Swedish programs is located on page 199 for channel 1, page 299 on channel 2 and on 399 for news programs Rapport and Aktuellt on these same channels. Channel 4's texting page is 890. You may not be able to adjust your volume while the TV is in "text-mode" (it depends on your TV) - so just cancel the text (press the Text button on the remote), adjust your volume, then reactivate the text mode. You should also be aware that not all channels have built-in Text-TV, but if you try pushing the Text-TV button while on other channels, you might discover some others who do. Discovery, CNN and Eurosport, for example, have their own versions of Text-TV. Pages 401 and 402 on Discovery will give you that day's schedule. CNN's text pages are in English. Eurosport's English page is on 300. Soap Operas You might notice you're missing your favorite American soap operas while here in Sweden. Sunset Beach, Days of our Lives (Våra bästa år), The Young and The Restless (Makt och begär) and The Bold and The Beautiful (Glamour) are among the few available here, although they are at least several months if not several years old. Unfortunately, Soap Opera Digest Online has now ended their daily updates. For synopses on your favorite soap operas, you can instead check the daytime sections of the websites for the major American networks ABC, CBS and NBC.
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