SRG SSR saves a further 40 million francs
Following an initial savings program of CHF 20 million this year, SRG will save a further CHF 40 million from 2016. The cuts are justified by the higher fee share for private broadcasters and VAT.
In April, the Federal Court ruled that fee payers would not have to pay VAT. In future, SRG will have to pay the annual VAT of CHF 35 million from its own funds, as SRG announced on Monday. This was the result of investigations by the federal government. In addition, the revised Radio and Television Act (RTVA) stipulates that the proportion of fees paid by private local and regional broadcasters will increase from four to up to six percent. This will further reduce SRG's income from mid-2016, when the law comes into force. The budget for 2016 and the following years will be around CHF 40 million lower than today, SRG continues. SRG's annual revenue currently amounts to around CHF 1.65 billion. SRF is to save around CHF 12 million, RTS CHF 8.5 million and RSI CHF 5.5 million. The Rhaeto-Romanic RTR and Swissinfo will contribute around CHF 600,000 and CHF 200,000 respectively. The General Management and the Business Unit Sport will save a total of CHF 8.5 million. A further CHF 4.5 million is to be cut from national and supra-regional projects.
Cuts to the program
A working group headed by SRG Finance Director Beat Grossenbacher is preparing the specific measures, according to reports. Cuts to the program are also to be expected. Initial details should be clarified from October and then communicated, as SRG spokesperson Simon Denoth explained on request. According to Denoth, job cuts will be unavoidable. However, specific measures are not yet known. SRG intends to negotiate a social plan with the media union SSM from October.
In a statement, the Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals (SSM) criticized the fact that SRG alone would have to bear the financial consequences of the Federal Court's ruling on VAT. The victims are not only the employees but also the viewers.
The Syndicom trade union also expressed concern about the planned cuts in a statement on Monday. The cost-cutting measures should neither jeopardize the quality of the public service in the media nor be carried out at the expense of SRG employees, according to Syndicom.
It was only in July that SRG announced a CHF 20 million savings program for the current year due to declining advertising revenues (hae/SDA).
