Former television director Peter Schellenberg has massively criticized his successor Ingrid Deltenre in an interview in Sonntagsblick. In summary, Schellenberg accuses Deltenre of a lack of socio-political awareness and social foundation. Experienced people who had worked closely with him were subjected to a veritable purge. Schellenberg accuses Deltenre of wanting to erase his tracks. Schellenberg was particularly incensed by the announcement of the end of the successful SF soap "Lüthi und Blanc", which Schellenberg considers to be his child. The soap was being discontinued because there was no money, which had been squandered elsewhere, such as on the Internet.
In general, Schellenberg also criticizes the development of Swiss television, which in his eyes no longer represents the ethics of a public service. SF is too strongly focused on ratings, but quality standards should be just as high as ratings.

Hansres Emch has been Project Manager New Media at the sheetfed printing company Multicolor Print since May 1, 2006. At Multi Digital - Multicolor Print's competence center for cross-media data utilization - he manages and positions service modules that allow media assets to be used economically. Media-neutral databases, remote publishing processes and the use of editorial systems can offer significant savings potential in the future, according to a press release. Originally a trained precision mechanic, Emch founded an advertising agency in 1986. He trained as a marketing planner and managed an agency as a partner until 2005. As the largest sheet-fed printing company in Central Switzerland with 110 employees, Mulicolor Print generated sales of 28.9 million Swiss francs in 2005.

The advertising manager of the women's magazine "Annabelle", Monika Schneider, is leaving the company at the end of October 2006. She wishes to pursue a new challenge within the media industry, according to a press release. Monika Schneider has been working for "Annabelle" since January 2004. Tamedia will provide information about her successor in due course.

Since the beginning of April 2006, the Berner Zeitung (BZ) has been published without a traditional departmental division. Ten Kunsthaus directors as well as François Wasserfallen (Office for Culture, Canton of Berne) and Christoph Reichenau (Office for Culture, City of Berne) are now - around three months after the reorganization - calling for the reintroduction of a culture section in the BZ. In a letter to the editor in Saturday's edition, the group describes the status quo as "an appalling disregard for culture". Those interested in culture are now forced to laboriously filter out reports on cultural events from the many other reports. In addition, the dissolution of the culture department weakens culture in the canton of Bern. Following the letter, the two editors-in-chief Markus Eisenhut and Michael Hug defended the new newspaper concept: "We see the dissolution of the traditional sections as an opportunity." They are of the opinion that although the traditional boundaries make it easier for a highly specialized audience to find their way around the paper, they no longer do justice to the increasing interconnectedness of all areas of life. Since April, the redesigned BZ has been reporting on events in Switzerland, abroad, business, culture and miscellaneous topics in the first section. Sport opens the second section, followed by readers' letters, the stock market section and the TV program. The third bundle contains all the news from the region across all departments.

The advertising and production agency Orcamedia was commissioned with the redesign of the corporate design for the Zurich photo agency Prisma. Orcamedia was commissioned to develop the logo and implement the corporate design and was involved in advising on the naming and domain for the new website. Prisma now operates under the name Prisma Bildagentur AG. According to the press release, the Prisma website has also been given a clearer and catchier design.

At the end of June 2006, Heinrich Anker will hand over the management of the SR DRS media department to his successor Stephanie Weiss. The 40-year-old from Basel took up her post in the Radio Directorate in Basel at the beginning of June. Stephanie Weiss joined the SRG Research Service in 2001 as a Senior Assistant, where she was responsible for radio research projects. In 2004, she took over as Head of Radio Research. Her dissertation on "Children and radio. Use, motives and interests of 7-14 year olds" was recently published as a book by Berner Haupt Verlag. Heinrich Anker has taken up a 50% position at the Radio Directorate in the area of corporate development. There he will deal with the long-term perspectives of technology and programming, with questions of media policy and program development.

According to the AIS Index published by Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung, online advertising sales in May were record-breaking. A total volume of CHF 5.44 million was generated, which corresponds to an increase of 60% compared to the same month last year.
The figures for Bluewin's online advertising, which have been missing since the beginning of the year, have now been reintegrated. The figures have also been adjusted retrospectively. In addition, the statistics have been supplemented by the figures for Edipresse subsidiary Edipub and also retroactively integrated into the statistics up to March 2005.
The integration of the data resulted in the previously published absolute figures being corrected upwards, reports Netzwoche. In March, 5.235 million Swiss francs were generated with online advertising and 2.74 million in January.

The two publishing houses W. Gassmann AG, publisher of the Journal du Jura in Biel, and Société Neuchâteloise de Presse SA, publisher of L'Express and L'Impartial in Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds, announced the launch of the strategic "ARC" project on Monday. The project group has already been put together and the employees informed. The project is intended to ensure the continued existence and independence of the titles. However, job cuts are likely. The publishers have called in the consulting firm Naef Partners in Zurich to support and implement the project.
The two publishers want to join forces in order to be well prepared for the significant upheavals in the advertising and reader market. Changes are planned in the areas of editing, technology, logistics and marketing. As Marc Gassmann, CEO of Gassmann AG, told Werbewoche, the aim of the project is to "work together in partnership to find the best solutions".
As a first step, some of the editorial teams are to be merged. In connection with this, new editorial pages are planned that will cover international, national and sports topics. It is currently impossible to say exactly what form this will take and this will be the work of the new project group. What is certain, however, is that local and regional reporting will remain the responsibility of the individual publishing companies. The three regional newspapers involved in "ARC" will also appear in a similar layout in future. The launch is planned for the first quarter of 2007.
In terms of marketing, it is planned that the three titles will appear under a new umbrella brand in future. The umbrella brand should be designed in such a way that advertisers can also imagine something under it, said Marc Gassmann. The existing "4×4 plus" advertising combination had not developed enough appeal beyond the region. Quotidien Jurassien, which was also involved in "4×4 plus", was also invited to participate in the "ARC" project. The dossier is currently being examined by the management.
As the project is still in the start-up phase, the impact on the organizational structure and ultimately the number of employees cannot yet be estimated, Gassmann continued. However, no new financial investments are planned. The printing locations will also remain unchanged. Kathrin Fischer

The picture agency Kursiv launched the new "Bilderstock" picture subscription in mid-April. For an annual fee, subscribers can download up to 1000 images per month from a catalog of over 100,000 pictures. "The collection - which mainly contains European material - is selling well," Managing Director Karsten Risseeuw confirmed to Werbewoche. "Bilderstock" is already the sixth Kursiv subscription and is on offer until the end of June for 789 francs.

Viewers' desire for more classic channels has led to the further expansion of Netstream's Adsl TV offering. ORF2 and ARD are now also available in normal quality, according to a press release. The channels ZDF, TSR1, TSR2, TSI1 and TSI2 will be broadcast in high quality. This means that viewers from French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland will also be able to benefit from Internet television in time for the World Cup round of 16.
Adsl.tv is currently still the only streaming portal for real-time television in Switzerland and is operated by the provider Netstream.

The Küsnacht-based PR agency is hiring Oliver Wimmer as a senior consultant and member of the management team as of July 1, 2006. The communications all-rounder Wimmer has headed the Swiss representative office of the Munich-based PR specialist for high-tech companies Vibrio since August 2002. Previously, Wimmer was Head of Marketing & Communications at Conextrade and was responsible for communications on the occasion of Swisscom's IPO.
CR Kommunikation claims to be one of the ten largest PR agencies in Switzerland. It has been on the market since 1989 and has operating companies in Zurich, Bern and Basel.

The Franco-German cultural channel Arte has announced that it will defend its independence against the Parisian government. According to newsroom.de, a letter is currently being prepared for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Dominique Baudis, President of the French media regulatory authority CSA. The reason for this is a letter from Baudis to the French head of government demanding "clear clarification of the channel's legal status". Under discussion is whether Arte is subject to the supervision of the French media authority, as its headquarters are located in Strasbourg. According to the cultural broadcaster, however, this is not the case under the Franco-German Arte Treaty, as this does not provide for supervision by either country. In his motion, Baudis points out that Arte violated French regulations with its vodka advertising. Meanwhile, Arte's general assembly has given the green light for a Belgian Arte offshoot. From September, a magazine dedicated to Belgian cultural events will be available via cable in the French-speaking part of Belgium. The rest of the program will initially be similar to the French one. According to the media magazine DWDL.de, channel offshoots are also planned for Spain, Italy and Hungary. In this way, Arte wants to establish a European chain of channels specializing in cultural content.