The Swedish equivalent of the FCC in America, Radio och TV Verket, has granted authorization to seven over-the-air HD channels to broadcast terrestrially within the Swedish system, along with another four SD channels.

RTVV said the new licenses will take effect on July 1, and will require renewal by no later than March 2014. The 11 new HD/SD channels (along with perhaps more to come in the next 12 months) are expected to go on-air by this fall. All of them will deploy MPEG-4 compression.

SVT, a public broadcaster, was granted two of the seven HD licenses. SVT could end up airing more HD channels in the next year or two, according to RTVV.

The new HD licenses include: Canal + HD Mix; Kanal 5 HD; MTVN HD (MTV Networks Europe); National Geographic Channel HD; TV3 HD (Viasat Broadcasting UK); TV4 HD; and Viasat Sport HD.

Swedish viewers already have access to HD content on a pay-TV basis from such providers as BSkyB and Virgin Media.