Melodifestivalen is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959. In the early 2000s, the competition was the most popular television program in Sweden; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. In 2012, the heats averaged 3.3 million viewers, and over an estimated four million people in Sweden watched the final, almost half of the Swedish population.
Smash Into Pieces performing at the fourth heat of Melodifestivalen 2023
Avicii Arena hosted the first of its 12 Melodifestivalen finals in 1989.
Ulf Elfving announcing the votes of the Stockholm jury at the 2005 final. The points scored by each entry are shown on a graphic scoreboard.
Sveriges Television AB, shortened to SVT, is the Swedish national public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag. Prior to 2019, SVT was funded by a television licence fee payable by all owners of television sets. The Swedish public broadcasting system is largely modelled after the system used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Television shares many traits with its British counterpart, the BBC.
The Kaknästornet in Stockholm is the major broadcasting antenna for TV and radio.
Television clock in the 1960s
TV2 clock in the 1970s
SVT headquarters in Stockholm