Founded 1988 | ||
 | ||
Radiotj nst i kiruna 1998
Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB (literally, "Radio Service in Kiruna") is Sweden's TV licensing body. It is a private corporation, formed in 1988 and based in Kiruna, and upon its formation took over the administration and handling of TV licences from the state-owned telecommunications company Televerket. The company is a subsidiary of the three Swedish public service broadcasters Sveriges Television, Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Utbildningsradio. Under Swedish law everyone who owns a television receiver is required to pay the license fee, currently 2076 kronor (€220) per year (2014). The fee is collected by Radiotjänst but administered by Swedish government office Swedish National Debt Office (Riksgäldskontoret) by means of a special account, the so-called “rundradiokontot”.
Contents
This fee previously applied to any household with a TV-receiver; even if the device was not used to view television. Even if a household had no way to receive a TV broadcast, but owned a device which could theoretically receive a signal (if said signal was present) it was still required to pay the fee.
Radiotjänst claimed that the current regulation for TV tax included any device that could theoretically be configured to receive a streamed video signal since at least one channel of Swedish public service TV was on the net in its entirety, but this interpretation was struck down by the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden on June 13, 2014.
Radiotjänst employs around 120 people, most of whom are located in Kiruna. On top of this several hundred licensing inspectors stationed around the country. And additional inspectors are employed on freelance basis. The TV-license collects around 7 000 million SEK a year (roughly 800 million EUR). The cost of running Radiotjänst amounts to 146 million SEK (2014).