Last summer, AF Bostäder withdrew several TV channels from their tenants as students no longer watch scheduled television. Not until now, a larger survey of the residents’ media habits is conducted.
Last summer, a majority of analogue TV channels went dark for the residents at AF Bostäder. Since then, tenants have only been able to watch SVT, TV4 and Lokalkanalen. Those with a digital box have in addition been able to watch TV6 and Axess TV. Several students have been upset by the decrease in the supply of channels, and AF Bostäder has been working on alternative solutions. Now, the company Lunicore has been tasked with investigating the tenants’ media habits.
“We have found some interesting alternatives, but the economy is still an issue. We don’t want students to pay more for simpler services, and that is why the solution has been delayed”, says Dag Oredsson, Marketing and Communications Manager at AF Bostäder.
Ideological belief
As the channels went dark last summer, no major survey of the residents’ media habits was conducted. Despite this, the foundation chose to call off parts of their TV supply.
Shouldn’t the survey have been made before you decided to remove certain TV channels?
“That is one opinion, but we conducted thorough investigations that hinted at increasingly few students watching regularly scheduled television,” Dag Oredsson says.
“We had to make a quick decision and chose not to sign a new agreement for the analogue transmissions, which would have tied us up for a longer period of time. We are ideological in our belief that scheduled television is not the future. But at the same time, we are humble and open to what the students think,” Dag Oredsson says.
Photo: Press/Niklas Rudfell.
Slow and careful
In an interview with Lundagård from August last year, AF Bostäder’s Housing Representative, Pierre Andersson, said that AF Bostäder was working to find a digital solution – but it is yet to arrive. However, Pierre Andersson does not believe that the delay has forced the students to pay full price for a service that is not provided.
“You can’t quite look at it like that. As a foundation, we have no profit requirements or an agenda to save more money. No money is disappearing”, Pierre Andersson says.
“For example, we increased the internet bandwidth without increasing rent. And this years’ rent increase is only based on a need for renovation and costs for water and electricity,” Pierre Andersson says.
When will your digital solution arrive?
“That depends on what Lunicore finds out in their survey. It would be dangerous to barge in and spend large amounts of money on a technical solution that would age rapidly. It’s important to tread both slowly and carefully,” Pierre Andersson says.
“We will have to wait and see what the survey says. If the students want Viaplay, it won’t take long. If the students want a portal solution, being a service where the student is provided with a homepage with streaming of TV, film, and music, that would take somewhat longer,” Dag Oredsson says.
No rent increase
The media survey is made through a web enquiry, and some students will participate in extensive interviews.
If the students despite all of this still want scheduled television – is that a possibility?
“That is absolutely a possibility,” Dag Oredsson says.
Will your solution mean an increase in rent?
“Our goal is first and foremost that there will be no rent increase. But we want to give the students what they want, and if they desire a more expensive solution, that might require increased rents,” Pierre Andersson says.
Text: Axel Hilleskog
Translation: Carl-William Ersgård
