Strengthened platform
Daniel Schifferle on the promising outlook for local television in Switzerland.
Daniel Schifferle on the positive prospects for Swiss local television, even if the liberal heart bleeds at the prospect of such far-reaching regulations as those advocated by the National Council in its deliberations on the RTVA: The private TV platforms will benefit immeasurably from the prospect of fee money. Regional television, which is popular with the public but still loss-making, will be preserved across the board. With the millions in fees, the broadcasters will be able to further strengthen and harmonize their offerings, and the advertising and programming network of the local television scene, TeleNewsCombi (TNC), is also assured of a brilliant future. With the infusion of fees, members that are still weak today can be nurtured into strong players. The result is a massively improved team performance.
The TNC can further enhance its role as an attractive target group supplement for the Swiss TV advertising market. With the parallel strengthening of SRG and local private electronic media, the Council made a decision in favor of Switzerland as a media location.
However, the idea of protecting local heritage has been overstretched. The plan to withhold certain liberalizations from the advertising windows failed for legal reasons alone. The National Council completely lost its footing when, in a frenzy of concessions, it also waved through religious and political advertising for private broadcasters. The urgently needed debate on these delicate borderline areas of commercial communication was canceled due to time constraints.
It's just as well that the second chamber can still make corrections. With the words "we'll see about that in the Council of States", CVP member of the Council of States Filippo Lombardi already announced his opposition on "Arena". As President of the Swiss private television association Telesuisse, he should actually be happy for every additional advertising franc in the coffers of his members. But if all kinds of free churches and financially strong parties were suddenly to populate the advertising platforms of local broadcasters, that would be a cuckoo's egg in the TNC nest even for him.
> Daniel Schifferle, Editor
The TNC can further enhance its role as an attractive target group supplement for the Swiss TV advertising market. With the parallel strengthening of SRG and local private electronic media, the Council made a decision in favor of Switzerland as a media location.
However, the idea of protecting local heritage has been overstretched. The plan to withhold certain liberalizations from the advertising windows failed for legal reasons alone. The National Council completely lost its footing when, in a frenzy of concessions, it also waved through religious and political advertising for private broadcasters. The urgently needed debate on these delicate borderline areas of commercial communication was canceled due to time constraints.
It's just as well that the second chamber can still make corrections. With the words "we'll see about that in the Council of States", CVP member of the Council of States Filippo Lombardi already announced his opposition on "Arena". As President of the Swiss private television association Telesuisse, he should actually be happy for every additional advertising franc in the coffers of his members. But if all kinds of free churches and financially strong parties were suddenly to populate the advertising platforms of local broadcasters, that would be a cuckoo's egg in the TNC nest even for him.
> Daniel Schifferle, Editor
