Goldbach Media's half-year figures show the advertising marketer with a jump in profits. The sale of Radio Energy to Ringier contributed to the net profit of CHF 12.1 million, with the sale of the radio station alone contributing CHF 11 million to Goldbach Media's coffers, according to SDA. Operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) jumped 58.9 percent to CHF 4.3 million. But the newcomer to the stock exchange also had a formidable half-year, with total sales climbing by 18.3 percent to 104.4 million francs.
Interactive and mobile media picked up strongly, with Goldbach increasing sales in these areas by 46.6% to CHF 23 million. The traditional advertising marketing business also performed very well, increasing by 12.2 percent to a total of CHF 81.8 million.
Goldbach is forecasting organic growth of over 10 percent and an increase in operating profit of between 12 and 15 percent for 2007 as a whole. Goldbach Media ended the past year with sales of CHF 199.5 million and a profit (before interest and taxes) of CHF 15.2 million.

 Is this the beginning of the end? Swisscom is transferring the operation of Betty TV in Switzerland to Betty TV Deutschland as of November 30, 2007. Further strategic options for the poorly performing business are being examined. Betty TV Switzerland commenced operations on July 1, 2006, and drastic measures are already being considered: The relocation to Germany is the first concrete measure to optimize the business, which is falling far short of expectations. A social plan agreed with the trade unions is in place for the 35 employees affected in Switzerland, as Swisscom assures in a press release. Swiss customers can continue to use the interactive remote control, as they can be integrated into the existing organization. Swisscom is looking for further optimization options for Betty TV Germany, but the rest of Swisscom's television business will not be affected, Swisscom added.

 After a lull at the beginning of the year, the graphic arts industry has regained momentum in recent months: The Viscom industry association's index of gross value added in the graphic arts industry rose by 1.2 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. The increase is due to the second quarter, which saw growth of 2.3 percent, as announced by Viscom on Thursday. In the first quarter, the index had only risen by 0.3 percent. Demand from the advertising and retail sectors, which are the printing industry's two largest customers, picked up in particular.
Viscom is using the publication of the half-year figures to once again demand a free hand for night work. This is necessary in the face of competition from abroad and should not be made more difficult by official measures, according to the communiqué. The authorization procedures for night work must be simplified.
The graphic arts industry is dependent on flexible working conditions, writes Viscom President Peter Edelmann in the press release. The market situation and the high level of investment require optimal utilization of production capacities. "Continuous night work must not be restricted any further," Edelmann continues. Viscom is therefore demanding unrestricted authorization for both newspaper and commercial printers and is calling for a revision of the corresponding ordinance to the Employment Act.

 It was known that Björn Brinkmann would be leaving Ogilvy One. Now it is clear where the German is heading: The dialog agency Fisch.Meier.Direkt announced on Thursday that he will be joining the industry leader as Creative Director on October 1. In Brinkmann, Fisch.Meier CEO Christian Hansen's preferred candidate has been recruited, the agency writes in a press release. The two already formed a successful team at Lowe Direct for many years. Brinkmann's other positions include: Rapp Collins Direct Friends, Hamburg; Grey Complete Communication, Hamburg; Lowe Direct, Zurich and Ogilvy One/Interactive, Zurich. Born in Germany, he has also won numerous national and international awards, including prizes in Berlin and Cannes. There will be no shortage of interesting work in his future position: Fisch.Meier recently defended the Laax account and won budgets from Vichy and Opel.

 
The PR agency Photopress, which specializes in media relations, has been entrusted with the PR mandate for Switzerland by the Swedish sports and fashion label Peak Performance. Zurich-based Photopress will support Peak Performance in the areas of event, product and brand PR, as detailed in a press release. Peak Performance was founded in 1986 and has undergone considerable development since then. The small label from the Swedish ski resort of Are has grown into a flourishing company with 1,400 sales outlets (165 of which are in Switzerland) and 24 general stores. Peak Performance has found an ideal partner in Photopress, a subsidiary of the Keystone photo agency, whose core competencies are PR for tourism, sport, business and lifestyle.

 The graphic arts industry is fighting back against dumping in the awarding of government contracts. The industry association Viscom is calling on the federal government and cantons to take compliance with social standards into account. The industry also wants a free hand when it comes to night work. "It is unacceptable for companies in the graphic arts industry to suffer competitive disadvantages simply because they adhere to socially agreed wage and working conditions," reads a Viscom communiqué issued on Thursday.
On October 23, 2006, the Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (BBL) terminated the current control agreement that it had signed three years earlier with Viscom and the Comedia and Syna trade unions.
The FOBL is the central procurement office for federal publications. According to the contract with the association and the trade unions, it was only allowed to award printing contracts to companies that guarantee compliance with working conditions, occupational health and safety and equal pay for men and women. The FOBL was tasked with monitoring the companies' voluntary commitment to comply with the collective labor agreement (CLA).
The industry association is now calling for a stop to so-called social dumping with the help of public funds and welcomes an ongoing revision of the law on public procurement, which should bring about fair competition.

 
The news magazine Facts, selig, had spread untrue facts in a report about an IV patient, moreover violated its duty to consult and then refused to correct facts that were proven to be false. The Press Council found clear words for this approach. In January 2007, the magazine, which has since been discontinued, reported under the title "Dizziness after the accident" about a man who received an IV pension following a whiplash injury. The writer bent the facts in such a way that they became evidence that it was not the doctors but the lawyers who had created the condition known as whiplash. He even went so far as to claim that the lawyer had agreed a fee with the client on a contingency basis, which did not correspond to the facts. But that's not all, the journalist also got the details wrong and wrote that the IV pensioner had his own computer business. Facts should have corrected these and other points not mentioned in the SDA report immediately, the Press Council found. However, a counterstatement was not suitable for this, especially as Fact had stuck to his account until his death.

On Friday, the new program "Faces TV" will flicker across the screen for the first time in ProSieben's Swiss window. However, a second format is already in the starting blocks: "Face of Faces" will accompany the model contest of the Faces magazine of the same name as a docu-soap. The show will run for five weeks in the fall on Thursdays at 6 pm. According to Mike Gut, Managing Director of Pro Sieben Schweiz, the plan is to gradually expand the program window. He would like to expand the range of topics, for example he has a cooking program in mind that could be shown on Wednesdays. The aim is to eventually have a Swiss program on every day; according to Gut, this will be achieved "step by step".
The first program to be launched on Friday is "Faces TV", which positions itself as a format for people, style and stories. "Faces TV" is very different from the SF format "Glanz und Gloria", said Stefan Berger, Managing Director of the producing Fairlane Consulting: "We won't be going to events, but doing actual stories with celebrities". There are plans for a number of shorter sections that will be included in every program, as well as alternating longer components. These include, for example, the "Lets' face it" element, in which the character traits of celebrities are analyzed based on their facial features; in the first show, Melanie Winiger's face is examined. In "Meet and Eat", two celebrities meet for a meal. The show is also dedicated to travel, fashion and the latest trends, for example. Another component of the program is the "Style Academy", in which a viewer is restyled according to a well-known recipe.
Berger and his team are focusing on cross-media elements: The TV team will also take a look behind the scenes at photo shoots for the magazine and refer to the website during the show, where users can take part in a competition. These collaborations allow the program, which is presented and co-produced by Claudia Lässer, to save costs.
Funding comes mainly from sponsorship, as there are no hinge blocks around the program. Interstitial advertising would be possible, but according to Mike Gut it will not take place, as a 12-minute program is considered too short for this.
According to Berger, the cross-media link helps the show to be well received by sponsors. This is also a decisive difference to the show "People", which was removed from the program by Sat.1 Switzerland in spring 2006 due to a lack of sponsor enthusiasm. In addition, "Faces TV" has a completely different concept, explained Berger.
So far, two main sponsors have been secured: Coca-Cola Light and Astor. Three sponsors would be necessary for the program to cover its costs. Fairlane Consulting is currently covering the remaining costs. Even if a third sponsor could not be found, the program would benefit the Faces brand greatly in terms of awareness, Berger continued. He is hoping for higher sales figures at newsstands and more subscriptions.
"Faces TV" has been given the slot previously occupied by German regional news. The show will also be repeated twice: shortly after midnight and in the afternoon shortly before 4pm. During the day, trailers for the show, in which the sponsors are also shown, as Mike Gut said. According to the Swiss ProSieben boss, the reruns will allow the show to reach additional viewers from different target groups.
Carole Scheidegger

 The new media specialists at Mitlinks have designed a campaign for the SBB label Railaway that combines classic online advertising, viral promotion and an emotional travel experience. The campaign was designed to encourage the Ron Orp community in Zurich and Basel to take short trips with RailAway, starting with a banner campaign in Ron Orp's mail, as Mitlinks announces. The current classic campaign "Discover the southern hemisphere" was advertised. In a second step, Ron Orp called on his readership in his newsletter to take a "joint trip to Ticino". When asked by Werbewoche, Mitlinks confirmed that "twenty to thirty" people" had allowed themselves to be tempted and traveled to Ticino with Ron Orp.

 The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) is inviting tenders for 41 licences for the broadcasting of FM radio stations and 13 licences for regional television stations in Switzerland. The invitation to tender starts on 4 September and is based on the Federal Council's decision at the beginning of July to define the coverage areas for FM radio and regional television and to determine the number of licenses. According to the new radio and television law, a license is only required for those who wish to make use of license fees or use scarce frequencies on preferential terms. Other radio and television stations are simply required to register.
License applications can be submitted until December 5, 2007. The licenses will be awarded by the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) from spring 2008. They will define binding service mandates, which will be specified in the invitation to tender. The licenses grant privileged access to the technical broadcasting infrastructure. In addition, 34 licensees benefit from the fees. Of the 4 per cent of revenue from reception fees, corresponding to CHF 49.8 million, to which the private broadcasters will be entitled in future, CHF 31.4 million will go to the 13 regional TV broadcasters.

 On the eighth Swiss Radio Day, the two radio stations Virus and Canal 3 won the "Radio of the Year" award. Virus is the station with the highest percentage increase in listenership in German and Canal 3 in Latin. Espace Media, the owner of Canal 3, is delighted with the success in a press release. At the same time, Marc Friedli, Head of Electronic Media at the publishing house, regrets that the station has to be sold: "However, the current law does not allow for anything else," says Friedli. Following the merger between the Bern-based Espace Media Groupe and Zurich-based Tamedia, Canal 3 will have to find a new main shareholder in the near future.
According to the organizers, Radioday was a success: over 400 participants from Switzerland and abroad attended the event at the World Trade Center in Zurich. In addition to the presentation of the "Radio of the Year" award, the announcement by Bakom Deputy Director Matthias Ramsauer of the fee shares for private radio and TV regions in accordance with the new RTVA was a highlight (
). The organizers of this year's RadioDay clearly focused on the topics of the reorganization of radio research and the "renaissance of the word". The lunchtime talk was dedicated to the latter. The workshops dealt with current topics from the radio scene, such as digital radio, Euro 2008, "Why radio is irreplaceable" or advertising bans on the radio. As a surprise, Bruno Oetterli, a long-time campaigner in the radio scene, was honored by the associations present for his great commitment.

 
If a journalist informs the criminal prosecution authorities himself and thus triggers proceedings, he must inform the readership. This was stated by the Press Council in a statement in connection with a case involving an employee of the Sonntagszeitung. In spring, Reto Gerber, a journalist for the Sonntagszeitung, repeatedly reported on the industrial group OC Oerlikon (then still Unaxis) and its major shareholders, uncovering a number of irregularities in the process. According to a report in the SDA, Gerber wrote in July 2006 that the Zurich public prosecutor's office was investigating the two major shareholders for false certification. What he did not mention in his report was that he himself had reported the suspicions to the judiciary and thus got the case rolling.
The two major shareholders then lodged a complaint with the Press Council, claiming that important elements of the information had been concealed. The Press Council now agrees with them: it should have disclosed the report to the criminal investigation authority to the readership. Although the journalist had not compromised his independence or acted out of self-interest, he had violated the "declarations of the duties and rights of journalists", the Press Council continued.