New initiative wants to abolish reception fees
The organizers of a new popular initiative to abolish radio and TV reception fees can begin collecting signatures. They have until May 12, 2015, to submit the required 100,000 signatures.
The Federal Chancellery has pre-examined the initiative "Radio and Television - without Billag" and found that it complies with the legal forms, as it announced in the Federal Gazette on Tuesday. The initiators want to enshrine in the federal constitution that the federal government does not levy reception fees. "We are against flat-rate charging," they write on their Website. Radio and television should be self-financing. And all media companies should have a level playing field.
The initiative is supported by the organization Solidarische Schweiz (SOS), it says. This Bürge, who had already launched an initiative with SOS in 2011 to abolish radio and TV fees, is also on the committee. At that time, the initiators gave up after less than 20,000 people had signed in 16 months. SOS had misjudged the situation, Bürge said at the time. The organization had expected approval from the media. However, this failed to materialize, which is why the initiative failed. (SDA)
