Flop of the week: Cancellation of concession decisions

The Federal Administrative Court's ruling to annul the license decisions has been received differently by the media companies concerned. The initiators Günter Heuberger, Roger Schawinski and Stefan Bühler, Schawinski's partner in the planned Radio Südost, are delighted - AZ Medien is taking it calmly. Bühler is confident of cracking the Graubünden media monopoly of the Südostschweiz Group. Now, he says, the Uvek must examine the question of abuse of the media group's dominant position when reassessing the award of the concession. When awarding the license to Radio Grischa, which belongs to the Südostschweiz Group, the aspect of diversity of opinion and offerings in the broadcast area had been completely ignored. Schawinski sees the ruling as a setback for the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom). He sees the Federal Administrative Court as confirming his most important argument - diversity of opinion. Both in Graubünden and in Aargau, the publishers were clearly in dominant positions, as Schawinski told the news agency SDA when asked.