The complete end for Betty TV
In early November, Swisscom announced the discontinuation of its interactive television service Betty in Switzerland; now, the decision has been made to end the service in its secondary market, Germany, as well. Until recently, there was still hope for an investor. But the investor’s ideas and those of Swisscom were too far apart, says Swisscom spokesperson Christian Neuhaus. Betty TV is history.
At the beginning of November, Swisscom announced the discontinuation of Betty interactive television in Switzerland, and now the time has come in Germany as well: operations will cease by the end of December 2007 at the latest, and Betty will thus be laid to rest completely. In Germany, operations were to have continued for the time being until a possible sale, and an investor was already being discussed (see ). The plan did not work out. As Swisscom spokesman Christian Neuhaus told Werbewoche, Swisscom and the potential investor were anything but in agreement. Neuhaus did not comment on how their ideas differed, nor did he mention a name. The closure will affect 70 employees in Germany. They will be dismissed within the framework of their employment contracts and normal notice periods. Swisscom's other TV activities are not affected by this decision. Swisscom will now focus more on multimedia, Bluewin TV and Teleclub, Neuhaus said. There are no follow-up projects for Betty, where the expertise gathered so far could be needed again. When operations cease in Switzerland on November 30 and a little later in Germany, Switzerland's first interactive television will be history.
It remains to be said: The Betty remote control remains fully functional as a multi-purpose remote control. Anyone who no longer has any use for it will be compensated in Swisscom vouchers upon presentation of the purchase receipt. But no one knows what Swisscom will do with the 200,000 remote controls that are still lying in some warehouse, packaged and brand new.
