SBB invites you to Western Switzerland
Commuter Newspapers: It seems the French-speaking Swiss will soon be pulling their free papers out of the boxes as well.
Whenever SBB prepares a tender for newspaper boxes at railroad stations in a region, this is an unmistakable indication that the market is ripe for a commuter newspaper and that at least one publisher has seriously approached SBB. This now also applies to French-speaking Switzerland. Beat-Gaudenz Schwarz, responsible for such invitation procedures at SBB Real Estate, confirms: "There have always been non-binding inquiries from publishers. But now the matter has become more concrete." First of all, he has to finalize the basis for an invitation procedure for French-speaking Switzerland. "We want to be ready by the end of the year," he says, but adds: "It can also happen faster."
Schwarz is not yet able to provide any information on the number of box locations, but it is likely that at least the stations on the Geneva-Lausanne line, and possibly other stops as far as Vevey or Montreux, will be included in the tender. Schwarz remains silent about the interested publishers.
The publishers themselves are also not eager to provide information. Rolf Bollmann, Managing Director of 20 Minuten at Tamedia, rejects any such ambitions. Nor does he want to know anything about a joint project with Edipresse. In Lausanne, Marcel Siegenthaler, Head of Advertising Market at Edipresse, has repeatedly emphasized that although a project is in the pipeline, it is only intended as a reaction to a possible intruder. Other candidates: the French publisher Her- sant, which has a daily newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland and does not hide its desire for free newspapers, as well as the commuter newspaper publishers Metro and Schibsted, both of which are active in several cities in France.
Markus Knöpfli
Schwarz is not yet able to provide any information on the number of box locations, but it is likely that at least the stations on the Geneva-Lausanne line, and possibly other stops as far as Vevey or Montreux, will be included in the tender. Schwarz remains silent about the interested publishers.
The publishers themselves are also not eager to provide information. Rolf Bollmann, Managing Director of 20 Minuten at Tamedia, rejects any such ambitions. Nor does he want to know anything about a joint project with Edipresse. In Lausanne, Marcel Siegenthaler, Head of Advertising Market at Edipresse, has repeatedly emphasized that although a project is in the pipeline, it is only intended as a reaction to a possible intruder. Other candidates: the French publisher Her- sant, which has a daily newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland and does not hide its desire for free newspapers, as well as the commuter newspaper publishers Metro and Schibsted, both of which are active in several cities in France.
Markus Knöpfli
