SVT Play is the brand used for the

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service offered by

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

, more specifically to the streaming services offered on the SVT website, svt.se, and its counterpart for mobile phones. The brand was introduced in December 2006, when the existing

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as films and television series, streamed over the Internet. Standing in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aerial systems, cable t ...

service got a new name. In September 2007, SVT launched their own channel on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. From late 2007 until end of 2008 SVT Play was also available as a channel on Joost. SVT claims that the service offers more than 2,000 hours of television. Most programmes produced for or by SVT are published on SVT Play after they have been broadcast and are then available for 30 days. SVT have also launched "channels" dedicated at different audiences under the "Play" name. The first such channel was Play Bolibompa which launched in late 2007. It was followed by the news service Play Rapport which launched in May 2008.

History

At launch, the streams were available in Windows Media and

RealVideo RealVideo, also spelled as Real Video, is a suite of proprietary format, proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks — the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and was at version 15. RealV ...

. Since 2007, SVT Play started using Flash Video for shorter clips. In September 2007, SVT launched a trial to provide streamed content in standard television resolution using Move Media Player. In the summer of 2008, the German series '' KDD'' became the first foreign acquisition available on SVT Play. During the 2008 Olympics, SVT made all Olympic broadcasts available on the web in three Play channels, on simulcasting with SVT1, one simulcasting with SVT24 and a special web channel called Peking+. In August 2008, SVT Play became available on an IPTV platform for the first time, as the service launched on Telia Digital-tv with newscasts and Olympic broadcasts available. On September 22, 2008, SVT launched a service called "Play Prima" which provides drama series from SVT in high resolution (with bitrates of up to 2.4 megabits per second). Since June 2010 SVT Play uses streaming with adaptive bitrate (between 320 and 2400 kilobits per second) and "Play Prima" was discontinued. In early 2009, SVT relaunched the SVT Play web application. A

beta version The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...

of the new web player was launched on January 20, 2009.

Availability

The service is accessible through most web browsers, a downloadable smartphone app, and selected over-the-top television platforms such as Apple TV. However, most content that isn't news or current affairs is restricted only to those in Sweden. The live simulcasts of SVT's channels on SVT Play are only available in Sweden but SVT Play has dedicated live streams of some individual programmes that may be viewable outside Sweden.

References

External links

* {{VOD services Sveriges Television 2006 establishments in Sweden Internet properties established in 2006 TvOS software