TV3 is a television channel targeted at a Swedish language audience and owned by Viasat (MTG). It was founded on 31 December 1987 by entrepreneur Jan Stenbeck as a joint Scandinavian channel, but Denmark soon got its own version of TV3. In the early 1990s, Sweden and Norway also separated.
After the Swedish general election in 1991, which was won by the right-winged parties, TV3 did not become the first terrestrial commercial television, as many had expected. The new government was in favor of a new channel, TV4, instead, and TV3 had to wait until after Swedish TV converted to digital between 2004 and 2007 across the different parts of the country. The reason why the Carl Bildt Ministry decided no to let TV3 become terrestrial was not explained by the government. Speculation at the time was that the channel planned to locate in Gothenburg instead of the capital, Stockholm. Although Sweden has a large area with long distances north and south, it is one of the most capital-centralized countries in Europe. MTG applied several times for analogue terrestrial broadcasting licenses, but was always declined after the 1994 election when the Social Democrats returned into power. This resulted in shorter and shorter news, poor quality productions and low viewer ratings.
Coordinates: 62°N 15°E / 62°N 15°E
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvæːrjə]
listen ), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish:
Konungariket Sverige ), is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of over 9.8 million. Sweden consequently has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54/sq mi), with the highest concentration in the southern half of the country. Approximately 85% of the population lives in urban areas. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the geographical area of Fennoscandia.
Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning with the annexation of present-day Finland by Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union.
Å is a small village and a parish in Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden. It has a population of about 200.
There are also at least 12 other places in Sweden called Å, most of them only a farm or a few houses. Å is pronounced "Aw", or phonetically [o:].
Å, which means stream or small river, is a contender for the title of shortest place-name in the world — although other places named Å as well as Ö and Y can make the same claim. As a consequence, many tourists have ventured to the village for the sole purpose of either taking photos of or stealing the place-name sign.
The parish of Å is rich in ancient remains, of which the oldest date from the Stone Age.
Coordinates: 58°29′47″N 16°30′06″E / 58.49638°N 16.50166°E
The name of Sweden (Swedish Sverige [ˈsvær.jə] listen ) is ultimately derived from the ethnonym of the Swedes.
The English name was loaned from Dutch in the 17th century to refer to Sweden as an emerging great power. Before Sweden's imperial expansion, Early Modern English used Swedeland.
The Old English name of Sweden was Sweoland or Sweorice, land or realm of the Sweonas, The Germanic tribes of the Sviar (Old Norse Svíþjóð). The name of the Sviar itself is derived from a Proto-Norse *Swihoniz, presumably a self-designation containing the Germanic reflexive *swe- "one's own, self".
The modern English name Sweden is exceptional in being loaned from Dutch. Before the gradual introduction of Sweden in the 17th century, English used Swedeland.
It is based on Middle Dutch Zweden, the Dutch name of Sweden, and in origin the dative plural of Zwede "Swede". It has been in use in English from about 1600, first recorded in Scottish Swethin, Swadne. Country names based on a dative plural in -n became productive in German and Dutch in the 15th century; compare German Italien "Italy", Spanien "Spain", Rumänien "Romania", Ungarn "Hungary".