Tariff set for time-shifted television

At a meeting with the Arbitration Commission, the two parties agreed on a tariff for so-called "catch-up TV", as announced by the Federal Arbitration Commission for the Exploitation of Copyrights and Neighboring Rights (ESchK) on Monday. Following the decision of the Arbitration Commission, the collecting societies are authorized to claim the compensation provided for in the tariff from the service providers.

For its part, the ESchK had previously come to the conclusion that time-shifted television constitutes a use subject to tariff regulation. However, the collecting societies previously wanted to limit the tariff they had submitted to the recording of broadcasts with a set-top box. According to the ESchK, they were of the opinion that the rights required for time-shifted television should be obtained directly from the rights holders. User and collecting societies have now reached an agreement, in particular on the duration of the retention period for copies and on how to deal with advertising. "This means that nothing stands in the way of a swift approval of the tariff by the Arbitration Commission", the latter writes in the communiqué.

No impact on customers

With the decision of the Arbitration Commission, time-shifted viewing of television programs will be possible to a similar extent as it is today. At present, various companies such as UPC Cablecom and Swisscom offer their customers the option of watching TV programs they have missed at a later date. This involves the TV programs being duplicated centrally on a service provider's storage medium at the customer's request. (SDA)