Dispute over advertising violations in "Gesundheit Sprechstunde"

The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM)
accuses the program "Gesundheit Sprechstunde", which is broadcast under the concession
is broadcast by Presse-TV on SF2 and produced by Ringier,
serious and repeated violation of the advertising and
sponsorship provisions of the Radio and Television Act. Thus
Bakom complains about insufficient sponsor transparency, surreptitious advertising
and inadmissible advertising for therapeutic products. Press TV is now regarded as
The licensee is obliged to comply with the points objected to by Bakom.
legal status and to additionally inform Bakom about the
of the steps taken. Press TV considers the decision of the
Bakom as disproportionate and contradicts the Federal Office in several respects.
Points. At the beginning and at the end of the
The Association of Swiss Female Physicians and the Swiss Medical Association
and Physicians (FMH) as a sponsor, although the FMH only
collected sponsorship money from third parties and passed it on to Ringier
forwarded. For reasons of transparency, the law requires that all
Sponsors must be mentioned at the beginning and end of the program. According to
Ringier's cooperation with FMH, however, was not a problem for Bakom.
known for a long time. However, the Federal Office did not initiate proceedings against
The program "Gesundheit Sprechstunde" was introduced by a
Ringier's competitor had been asked to do so. Since then, according to Ringier, the
legal status and the required transparency in the
sponsoring area.

Among other things, the following matters are also handled by the Federal Office
objected to: The Swiss Center for Allergy, Skin and Asthma
(AHA) participated in the financing of individual programs, without
to be named as a sponsor. Furthermore, Bakom qualifies the
Presence of the Lung League in the program "100 years of the Lung League" as
surreptitious advertising, since Ringier had the production of this program
by the Lung League, without this being made available to viewers.
to be disclosed. Ringier finds the term surreptitious advertising in this
context, as the institution is a non-profit organization. "Your
The aim is to offer its services to as many sick and ill people as possible.
to their relatives," according to a press release.

There is also an agreement between Novartis and Ringier in
which Ringier has committed to support Novartis in the "Health
consultation hour", writes Bakom. Ringier counters,
that an information platform such as "Gesundheit Sprechstunde" is not a
television license fees and therefore
is dependent on generous support from the economy. The
The media group points out that the partnership agreements with
Novartis expressly recognizes the independence of the individual editorial offices
guaranteed.

Also in the way remedies are presented and mentioned in some
broadcasts are considered surreptitious advertising by OFCOM. As these are
products are prescription-only medicines, it was not possible to
Bakom also violated the ban on advertising therapeutic products. Ringier has the
Recognized the problem of naming prescription drugs,
accepts the accusation of surreptitious advertising for individual
medication. These are merely isolated cases, writes
Ringier, and in addition, the editorial team of the "Gesundheit Sprechstunde" of the
Opinion that the mention was journalistically justified.

OFCOM's decision can now be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court within 30 days.
Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC)
be contested. Ringier supports Presse-TV's decision,
to lodge an administrative appeal against the decision of OFCOM.
Due to the suspicion of serious and repeated violation of the advertising
and sponsorship provisions of the Radio and Television Act, the
Bakom also initiated administrative penalty proceedings. As part of this
may be fined up to 50,000 Swiss francs and the unlawful
income generated are collected.