Suisa fees for TV commercials remain controversial

SRG is sticking to compensation from advertising agencies "Only SRG has to pay Suisa compensation for the broadcasting of advertising spots," triumphs the Swiss Advertisers' Association (SWA). According to a decision by the arbitration committee, only those who carry out the copyright act of "broadcasting" are considered to be tariff partners of the rights exploiter Suisa. The broadcasting tariff W will no longer be charged to advertisers, only the recording tariff VN remains, which is why the SWA is questioning the pricing policy of the advertising time marketer Publisuisse in a press release. As the Suisa fees will be paid from the SRG budget in future, an average tariff increase of 1.5 percent "is not justified in itself, as the costs of the W tariff have been included in this surcharge as a precautionary measure".
Othmar Stadelmann, Head of Finance and Operations at Publisuisse, disagrees. For the new tariffs, the entire pricing has been reviewed. Suisa fees are only one of many cost factors and are not relevant to the result. It is clear that SRG cannot pay for TV commercials with licence fees, but must pass them on to Publisuisse (sm).