End of broadcasting in Biel soon
Teletext Despite broad support, there is no longer any doubt that Swiss TXT is to be decentralized. The Biel site is acutely endangered.
Teletext Despite broad support, there is no longer any doubt that Swiss TXT is to be decentralized. The Biel site is acutely endangered. "There is a sense of helplessness and uncertainty among the workforce," says Andreas Schneider from the works committee at Swiss TXT in Biel. The uncertainty is weighing on the mood of the 185 employees of Teletext AG, which was founded in 1983, was renamed Swiss TXT in 1997 and is 97 percent owned by SRG. In response to the current situation, the staff have set up the committee in an attempt to make their voices heard by the parent company. Since SRG management announced last March that Swiss TXT would now also be caught up in the maelstrom of SRG's Internet strategy, following the planned cutbacks at Swiss Info in Berne, which previously had a nine-language foreign service, with possible job cuts of 70 to 80. SRG wants Swiss TXT to move closer to the broadcasters and be distributed to Geneva, Lugano and Zurich. "The decision has been made, the decision of the Board of Directors is firm," confirms the Head of SRG Corporate Communications, Simon Meyer, the end for Biel.
Some at Swiss TXT may have wondered how serious the parent company still is about its cross-cultural idée suisse. Shouldn't there be a big question mark behind the giant letters of the SRG logo on the roof of the Biel/Bienne Congress Center, which towers over the city and where Swiss TXT occupies nine floors?
Staff want an alternative "Yes, we've already thought of something like that," says Andreas Schneider. He is a co-signatory of the open letter of June 20 - it is already the third - to SRG Director General Armin Walpen. In it, the works committee, on behalf of the entire workforce, calls on SRG to examine alternatives to decentralization, above all the expansion of the current Swiss TXT in Biel into a trilingual multimedia center.
The idea for such a competence center originated in the political arena, when a broad and still ongoing wave of solidarity was expressed towards the company after the SRG restructuring plans became known. The Bern government council intends to intervene with a letter to the SRG general management these days and repeat its proposal for a multimedia center to counter the expected loss of know-how and qualified jobs, as it did in response to two motions from political circles in Biel.
But the vision of a prosperous city of communication, as envisioned by Biel's mayor and National Councillor Hans Stöckli, is starting to crack. "Not a pleasant thing," comments Stöckli. For this reason, the Bernese and Neuchâtel parliaments should also campaign for the multimedia center in federal Bern, and Stöckli himself has already responded with an interpellation in the National Council. He doubts that a decentralized Swiss TXT could be operated more cost-effectively than centrally in Biel, where wages are low.
So far, those responsible at SRG have left no doubt about their internet strategy. All SRG broadcasters already operate sophisticated websites with more or less extensive user offerings to enhance their programs. However, several independent websites in the catchment area of the SRG broadcasting chains - websites of the respective broadcaster plus Swiss Info and Swiss TXT - would be too much, explains Simon Meyer. "We can't afford this for reasons of efficiency and have to streamline the structures," he emphasizes. Added value - the strategy is not aimed at additional benefits and offers, but at deepening the programs.
However, TSR in French-speaking Switzerland is cultivating its own interpretation of added value with an actual online boutique. Naturally, this has also attracted the attention of Swiss newspaper publishers, who want to stand up to the competition from their internet platforms. "The prerequisite is that SRG dispenses with advertising on the Internet," says Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Publishers' Association. SRG has already decided this in a decision by the Board of Directors, but it has not yet been clarified whether SRG web portals will be allowed to offer their platform to sponsors in future.
Advertising through the back door? If Swiss TXT becomes part of the channel chains' websites in the long term, there will be further problems to solve. After all, the company has a license for the commercial use of its services, which go beyond the news service and TV programs with the Love and Fun, Travel, Tourism and Entertainment sections, for example. The cross-media Teletext service enjoys a high level of attention and increasing growth rates: 1.3 million people use Teletext every day. ORF, for which Swiss TXT provides all teletext services, is already advertising the advertising potential of the Swiss brand. Advertising could therefore sneak onto the station portals through the back door. Simon Meyer denies this: "We don't want to compete with the private providers and don't want to keep any back doors open."
However, there could still be a drop of bitterness for Biel: Director General Walpen recently announced internally that the overheads, i.e. individual work areas such as the IT department of Swiss TXT, could remain in Biel. "For the time being, the idea is to split up only the editorial offices of Swiss TXT and leave the rest in Biel," explains Meyer.
SRG does not necessarily have to obey political guidelines when it comes to Swiss TXT's decentralization project. "Unlike Swiss Info, our license does not require parliamentary blessing from Bern," explains Swiss TXT Deputy Director Beat Schneider, adding that it does not matter whether Biel or Bienne is split up. So the political lobby for the Biel site will probably have to bite the bullet. Hans Ulrich Büschi, President of SRG idée suisse Bern, Fribourg and Valais, was initially an opponent of decentralization out of concern for the media location of Biel and the canton of Bern. He now points to the fact that Swiss TXT is in the red to the tune of half a million francs and, with regard to the digitalization of television, says: "The teletext medium is an obsolete model in the long term."
SRG must make savingsOn June 28, SRG SSR idée suisse announced rigorous cost-cutting measures to the media, in a first round amounting to CHF 80 million from 2007. The company expects
a funding gap of CHF 160 million by 2009 as a result of the revised Radio and Television Act (RTVA), exemption from fees for AHV recipients, discontinuation of federal subsidies for Swiss Info, investment requirements in new production and broadcasting technologies, more expensive sports and film rights and the multimedia future.
In view of the real decline in SRG's financial resources, which is currently presenting a balanced financial year, fee increases must be expected. (rw)
Glittering façade, gloomy prospects: The end of Swiss TXT at the Biel site is no longer in sight.
René Worni
Some at Swiss TXT may have wondered how serious the parent company still is about its cross-cultural idée suisse. Shouldn't there be a big question mark behind the giant letters of the SRG logo on the roof of the Biel/Bienne Congress Center, which towers over the city and where Swiss TXT occupies nine floors?
Staff want an alternative "Yes, we've already thought of something like that," says Andreas Schneider. He is a co-signatory of the open letter of June 20 - it is already the third - to SRG Director General Armin Walpen. In it, the works committee, on behalf of the entire workforce, calls on SRG to examine alternatives to decentralization, above all the expansion of the current Swiss TXT in Biel into a trilingual multimedia center.
The idea for such a competence center originated in the political arena, when a broad and still ongoing wave of solidarity was expressed towards the company after the SRG restructuring plans became known. The Bern government council intends to intervene with a letter to the SRG general management these days and repeat its proposal for a multimedia center to counter the expected loss of know-how and qualified jobs, as it did in response to two motions from political circles in Biel.
But the vision of a prosperous city of communication, as envisioned by Biel's mayor and National Councillor Hans Stöckli, is starting to crack. "Not a pleasant thing," comments Stöckli. For this reason, the Bernese and Neuchâtel parliaments should also campaign for the multimedia center in federal Bern, and Stöckli himself has already responded with an interpellation in the National Council. He doubts that a decentralized Swiss TXT could be operated more cost-effectively than centrally in Biel, where wages are low.
So far, those responsible at SRG have left no doubt about their internet strategy. All SRG broadcasters already operate sophisticated websites with more or less extensive user offerings to enhance their programs. However, several independent websites in the catchment area of the SRG broadcasting chains - websites of the respective broadcaster plus Swiss Info and Swiss TXT - would be too much, explains Simon Meyer. "We can't afford this for reasons of efficiency and have to streamline the structures," he emphasizes. Added value - the strategy is not aimed at additional benefits and offers, but at deepening the programs.
However, TSR in French-speaking Switzerland is cultivating its own interpretation of added value with an actual online boutique. Naturally, this has also attracted the attention of Swiss newspaper publishers, who want to stand up to the competition from their internet platforms. "The prerequisite is that SRG dispenses with advertising on the Internet," says Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Publishers' Association. SRG has already decided this in a decision by the Board of Directors, but it has not yet been clarified whether SRG web portals will be allowed to offer their platform to sponsors in future.
Advertising through the back door? If Swiss TXT becomes part of the channel chains' websites in the long term, there will be further problems to solve. After all, the company has a license for the commercial use of its services, which go beyond the news service and TV programs with the Love and Fun, Travel, Tourism and Entertainment sections, for example. The cross-media Teletext service enjoys a high level of attention and increasing growth rates: 1.3 million people use Teletext every day. ORF, for which Swiss TXT provides all teletext services, is already advertising the advertising potential of the Swiss brand. Advertising could therefore sneak onto the station portals through the back door. Simon Meyer denies this: "We don't want to compete with the private providers and don't want to keep any back doors open."
However, there could still be a drop of bitterness for Biel: Director General Walpen recently announced internally that the overheads, i.e. individual work areas such as the IT department of Swiss TXT, could remain in Biel. "For the time being, the idea is to split up only the editorial offices of Swiss TXT and leave the rest in Biel," explains Meyer.
SRG does not necessarily have to obey political guidelines when it comes to Swiss TXT's decentralization project. "Unlike Swiss Info, our license does not require parliamentary blessing from Bern," explains Swiss TXT Deputy Director Beat Schneider, adding that it does not matter whether Biel or Bienne is split up. So the political lobby for the Biel site will probably have to bite the bullet. Hans Ulrich Büschi, President of SRG idée suisse Bern, Fribourg and Valais, was initially an opponent of decentralization out of concern for the media location of Biel and the canton of Bern. He now points to the fact that Swiss TXT is in the red to the tune of half a million francs and, with regard to the digitalization of television, says: "The teletext medium is an obsolete model in the long term."
SRG must make savingsOn June 28, SRG SSR idée suisse announced rigorous cost-cutting measures to the media, in a first round amounting to CHF 80 million from 2007. The company expects
a funding gap of CHF 160 million by 2009 as a result of the revised Radio and Television Act (RTVA), exemption from fees for AHV recipients, discontinuation of federal subsidies for Swiss Info, investment requirements in new production and broadcasting technologies, more expensive sports and film rights and the multimedia future.
In view of the real decline in SRG's financial resources, which is currently presenting a balanced financial year, fee increases must be expected. (rw)
Glittering façade, gloomy prospects: The end of Swiss TXT at the Biel site is no longer in sight.
René Worni
