Poison for the regional TV genre
With the exclusion of Tele Top from TeleNewsCombi, a political intrigue is now also beginning in the regional TV sector that will do more harm than good to the genre. As was previously the case with private radio stations.
Since January 20, Tele Top has expanded its broadcasting area to Zurich, as permitted by its new license. The license-exempt TeleZüri also began to expand in (almost) all directions. Due to this new constellation, it was clear that the TeleNewsCombi (TNC) advertising pool would need to be reorganized. TNC promptly reorganized itself as of July 1: Tele Top, the only non-publisher TV alongside TeleBasel, was shown the door. The main argument: the territorial overlap with TeleZüri was becoming too large, leading to double bookings and parallel broadcasts of joint TNC programs.
Tele-Top founder Günter Heuberger expected this. That's why he already made the budget without TNC income in his license application, he says. From the summer, he will launch his own combined offer: Anyone who books Tele Top in addition to at least one other regional TV will receive a 20 percent discount on the Top rate. Heuberger is already doing something similar with Radio Top.
But the new TNC will not last long. Three licensing decisions are still pending (Aargau, Central Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland). Depending on the outcome, up to two stations per region will (continue to) broadcast in future. The future is uncertain. In the medium term, Upper Valais will also be added, which will be newly developed with regional TV. Finally, the fact that almost all regional TV stations in German-speaking Switzerland are experiencing declining reach in their core regions is also fraying nerves. This can only be temporarily concealed with territorial expansions.
Because of all these imponderables, it is incomprehensible why the TNC is already excluding a member. And with a flimsy argument to boot. This is because the expansion of TeleZüri - even without Tele Top - leads to considerable overlaps with TeleOstschweiz, TeleSüdostschweiz and Tele Tell. Not to mention the previous overlaps with Tele M1 in the Baden area. This is tacitly accepted in the TNC. Rumor has it that nobody dares to protest against Tele Züri. Whereby, of course, pecuniary self-interest also plays a role.
However, the top spot is likely to be detrimental to the regional TV genre. Just take a look at the radio market. There, the same agitators largely proceeded according to the same motto: Integrate publishers' radio stations, exclude stations from non-publishers and competition in the Zurich market. Genre thinking and customer orientation fell by the wayside. The result: a disaster. Logical, because such dodges are poison for the genre. They stir up mistrust. Now, however, history seems to be repeating itself for regional TVs.
The industry doesn't want to talk about it. Rolf Bollmann, Head of Media Zurich & Northeastern Switzerland at Tamedia, remained unreachable for days. André Moesch from Tele Ostschweiz as well. And Roland Baumgartner from AZ Medien (Tele M1 and Tele Tell) was reluctant to answer. When asked why he accepted that TeleZüri was straddling the fence in Central Switzerland on such a massive scale, he brushed it off with the remark that the Tamedia station would remain oriented towards Zurich. That is why it is more of a supplement and not a competitor for Tele Tell in Central Switzerland. Similar experiences had been made in the Baden region with Tele M1.
But with a view to the future regional TV landscape, wouldn't a modular regional TV pool be more suitable for the genre and customers than a rigid TNC? Also more suitable for the AZ Medien stations, considering that they could face competition in Aargau and Central Switzerland.
Baumgartner reacts gruffly. The new TNC is definitely customer-oriented, he counters. And he doesn't like reading coffee grounds.
Markus Knöpfli
Tele-Top founder Günter Heuberger expected this. That's why he already made the budget without TNC income in his license application, he says. From the summer, he will launch his own combined offer: Anyone who books Tele Top in addition to at least one other regional TV will receive a 20 percent discount on the Top rate. Heuberger is already doing something similar with Radio Top.
But the new TNC will not last long. Three licensing decisions are still pending (Aargau, Central Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland). Depending on the outcome, up to two stations per region will (continue to) broadcast in future. The future is uncertain. In the medium term, Upper Valais will also be added, which will be newly developed with regional TV. Finally, the fact that almost all regional TV stations in German-speaking Switzerland are experiencing declining reach in their core regions is also fraying nerves. This can only be temporarily concealed with territorial expansions.
Because of all these imponderables, it is incomprehensible why the TNC is already excluding a member. And with a flimsy argument to boot. This is because the expansion of TeleZüri - even without Tele Top - leads to considerable overlaps with TeleOstschweiz, TeleSüdostschweiz and Tele Tell. Not to mention the previous overlaps with Tele M1 in the Baden area. This is tacitly accepted in the TNC. Rumor has it that nobody dares to protest against Tele Züri. Whereby, of course, pecuniary self-interest also plays a role.
However, the top spot is likely to be detrimental to the regional TV genre. Just take a look at the radio market. There, the same agitators largely proceeded according to the same motto: Integrate publishers' radio stations, exclude stations from non-publishers and competition in the Zurich market. Genre thinking and customer orientation fell by the wayside. The result: a disaster. Logical, because such dodges are poison for the genre. They stir up mistrust. Now, however, history seems to be repeating itself for regional TVs.
The industry doesn't want to talk about it. Rolf Bollmann, Head of Media Zurich & Northeastern Switzerland at Tamedia, remained unreachable for days. André Moesch from Tele Ostschweiz as well. And Roland Baumgartner from AZ Medien (Tele M1 and Tele Tell) was reluctant to answer. When asked why he accepted that TeleZüri was straddling the fence in Central Switzerland on such a massive scale, he brushed it off with the remark that the Tamedia station would remain oriented towards Zurich. That is why it is more of a supplement and not a competitor for Tele Tell in Central Switzerland. Similar experiences had been made in the Baden region with Tele M1.
But with a view to the future regional TV landscape, wouldn't a modular regional TV pool be more suitable for the genre and customers than a rigid TNC? Also more suitable for the AZ Medien stations, considering that they could face competition in Aargau and Central Switzerland.
Baumgartner reacts gruffly. The new TNC is definitely customer-oriented, he counters. And he doesn't like reading coffee grounds.
Markus Knöpfli
Broadcasting area of TeleZüri without a license from spring 2009
