Private company

TV4 AB

TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously traded as TV4-gruppen) is a Swedish media company owned by Schibsted through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting).1

Last updated Oct 18, 2026.

Overview

1984Founded1

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TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously traded as TV4-gruppen) is a Swedish media company owned by Schibsted through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Sweden, TV4.2

How it started

History

The company was founded in 1984 by Ingemar Leijonborg and Gunnar Bergvall as Nordisk Television AB ("Nordic Television"). They intended to start a Swedish commercial television channel.

It took several years for Leijonborg and Bergvall to find someone willing to invest in their channel, but it was eventually launched on 15 September 1990 as "TV4", broadcasting from the Tele-X satellite. A Norwegian sister channel, TV4 Norway, was also launched, but was sold a few years later.

At the time, it was clear that the government intended to launch a third terrestrial station and that it would be commercially funded. The two main competitors for the new channel were Nordisk Television and Kinnevik (owners of TV3). Eventually it was Nordisk Television who got the license since Kinnevik agreed to withdraw their application. In exchange, Kinnevik bought 30 percent of Nordisk Television and a company called Airtime AB was set up to sell advertising in TV3 and TV4, giving Kinnevik control of almost all television advertising in Sweden. TV4 could start broadcasting terrestrially in the spring of 1992. Nordisk Television discontinued the Airtime agreement in 1993, a decision followed by years of discussion between Kinnevik and the other owners of the company.

Nordisk Television started trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1994 and changed its legal name to TV4 AB.

With the terrestrial license followed an obligation to give some airtime to different local companies. This would regularly be owned by the TV4 Group in conjunction with local investors and media companies. With the start of TV4 Uppland the number of regional stations reached sixteen. Eventually, the TV4 Group started buying local stations and in 2001 they owned all but one, TV4 Fyrstad, which went bankrupt in 2003. The TV4 Group then merged all regional stations into a single entity, TV4 Sverige AB.

From Wikipedia’s article on TV4 AB, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Leadership

Who has led TV4 AB, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chief executive

  1. Gunnar Bergvall1987–1988
  2. Ingemar Leijonborg1989–1990
  3. Björn Nordstrand1992–1994
  4. Claes Thorson1992
  5. Lars Weiss1994–1995
  6. Christer Forsström1995–1998
  7. Thorbjörn Larsson1998–2001
  8. Jan Scherman2001–2011
  9. Casten Almqvist2011–2022
  10. Mathias Berg2022–now
1990200020102020

Timeline

  1. 2025Acquired Acquired by Vend Marketplaces1
  2. 2022New chief executive Mathias Berg becomes CEO1
  3. 2019Acquired Acquired by Telia Company1
  4. 2011New chief executive Casten Almqvist becomes CEO1
  5. 2007Acquired Acquired by Bonnier Group1
  6. 2001New chief executive Jan Scherman becomes CEO1
  7. 1998New chief executive Thorbjörn Larsson becomes CEO1
  8. 1995New chief executive Christer Forsström becomes CEO1
  9. 1994New chief executive Lars Weiss becomes CEO1
  10. 1992New chief executive Björn Nordstrand becomes CEO1
  11. 1992New chief executive Claes Thorson becomes CEO1
  12. 1989New chief executive Ingemar Leijonborg becomes CEO1
  13. 1987New chief executive Gunnar Bergvall becomes CEO1
  14. 1984Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2