Last year, the IPM generously launched a new event - a golf tournament, which is nothing new for advertisers, but since it is an invitational tournament, the people of Küsnacht can naturally choose thirty particularly fun golfers. What's more, the event almost completely lacks any sporting ambition, because it is played in scramble Stableford mode. Which means that each flight forms a team and competes with the other flights. For non-golfers - a flight is the four players who start their round at the same time. The fact that the ranks one to four were then only one point apart, but in the end the shortlist author but something. The one missing point was lost on the last hole. Which is why Jürg Schubiger, André Dosé and IPM COO Marcel Bosshard were able to enjoy second place alone.
But as I said, for once the focus was not on the purely sporting side of things. And so, for a golf tournament, there was refreshingly little talk about golf at the dinner.
Winners: Werni Baumann, Ad. X, Paul Sturzenegger, ex-GL member Rivella, Reto Caviezel, Art on Ice and advertiser Heinz Egli (from left).
The hosts with their Vice President Dr. Beat Curti - Michi Frank (l.), CEO, and Marcel Bosshard (r.), COO of IP Multimedia.
Third place went to shortlist author Fritsch, Hélène Müller, Headaway & Stone, advertiser Martin Denecke and Roli Lacher, Pinx (from left).
Golf fans: Claude Hauser, President of the MGB Administration, ex-McCann CEO Heinz Flückiger and SI Publishing Director Urs Heller (from left).
A big thank you to the organizers Bettina Singeisen, Tanja Kretz-Sägesser and Franca Mathes from IP Multimedia (from left).
Didn't miss out on participating in this golf game either: Theophil Butz, Andy Hostettler and Peter Lesch (from left).
Beat Fritsch

is strengthening its Swiss general management with Eric Hoesli (photo). The former publishing director and editor-in-chief of Le Temps is taking over the newly created position of director of the regional press at the Lausanne publishing house Edipresse. He will be reporting to Antoine Exchaquet as head of the Tribune de Genève and Pierre Buntschu as head of 24 Heures and the Vaud publications. ...
Former SonntagsBlick editor-in-chief Martin Hofer has been appointed Senior Consultant at Burson-Marsteller. He will join the Zurich-based communications agency at the beginning of September in the areas of public affairs and media relations. Hofer ran SonntagsBlick from January to October 2003, before which he was head of the "10vor10" news program at SF DRS.
...
Stefan Vogler is leaving the advertising agency Grey Switzerland at the end of August. According to a press release, the former Chairman and Managing Partner is "open to new challenges". He will hand over the management of the agency in July
to the Managing Director of Grey Geneva, Charris Yadigaroglou (photo), who has been appointed CEO. From the same date, Grey Zurich will continue to be managed by Christoph Vogler, previously responsible for Strategic Planning. Uli Veigel, Head of Grey Germany, will take over as Chairman of Grey Worldwide AG at the beginning of September.
...
Patrick Steinemann has been writing for Schaffhauser Nachrichten as domestic editor since the beginning of July. He previously worked as a freelance journalist for Werbewoche and Media Trend Journal, among others.
...
The regional broadcasters Tele M1 and TeleTell are increasing their pool of technicians at the joint production company TMT Productions from 9 to 13 full-time positions. The previously vacant position of Head of Technology and Production will be split. Bruno Zus, who previously worked at SF DRS for "10vor10", has been appointed Head of Production as of October. Jann Erne, who has worked as a freelance producer for Tele M1 and TeleTell for many years, will take over as Head of Technology.
...
Monika Nievergelt joins the Zurich consulting agency Bretscher + Partner as a consultant at the beginning of July. The former advertising manager for the Wireline & Internet divisions at Sunrise is strengthening the range of services in the areas of communication, advertising and media relations.

In the last Werbewoche/ (No. 25 of June 30, 2005), the article "Bald Sendeschluss in Biel" on page 15 reads: "ORF, for which Swiss TXT provides the teletext services in full, is already advertising with the advertising potential of the Swiss brand." It is true that there is neither a journalistic nor a commercial connection between Swiss TXT and the ORF service.

As the new partner of Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft, Daniel Kraft wants to promote a nuanced approach to brands: the shoes have to have the right logo, the cereal on the breakfast table has to have the right gadgets hidden in the packaging, and they don't just play some nameless game. Like most children today, his two boys, aged six and nine, have a keen awareness of brands. Nevertheless, their father finds it difficult to explain to them what he does in his office all day, and often for long periods of time.Daniel Kraft "develops and maintains the identity of brands" is written on his business card. And he knows what this work entails. "The obsession with branded products - people want to have everything that influential children have - forces many parents to endure and absorb a lot of pressure." However: "We don't just make desirable brands so that people will pay more for a tennis shoe later," says Daniel Kraft, wanting to dispel the biggest misconception about his profession. And he is now speaking for adults.
What the new, equal partner at Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft in Zurich likes about his job is that he is increasingly discovering the secret of how impulses and signals are received. "What criteria do we follow?" is his most important question. The answer in terms of brand management is to create order in the collective consciousness by simplifying and bundling the many pieces of information that all want to reach the surface of a company and its products at the same time. "Every piece of information wants to be the most important. The brand specialist therefore tries to set the measure and create structures."
For Kraft, the Aldi brand shows that this "finding home" of a brand with "generating added value" is usually misinterpreted at first. People go there because the brand promises them cheaper shopping. However, if Aldi is overrun by more and more customers because of this, the store chain could start to play with price again.
Understanding such strategies and finding the right stage and the right appearance for them in communication is a challenge that has fascinated the former graphic design apprentice Daniel Kraft more than ever. Being able to translate such ideas and values into images, stories, words and actions over time defines his agency's self-image.
"We are not an advertising agency for current campaigns, but want to introduce sustainable and long-term mechanisms with a smooth transition from content to form and action," says Daniel Kraft. For him, measures are forgotten after a while; what remains is an inner image that binds you to the brand. Kraft completed an apprenticeship as a graphic designer at Atelier Scheller in Zurich, where he created logos for the Kantonalbank and Sporthilfe in the time-honored tradition of Swiss graphic design. He later continued his education in the USA. He completed a Master of Fine Arts, taught graphic design at an art school on the East Coast and worked as a designer at the established agency Malcolm Grear Designers from 1989 to 1992. After his return to Switzerland, he had the opportunity to shape the design of the later legendary Börsenstar Day when the company was still small and moving more towards multimedia.
In 1996, he moved to Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux. He worked here for eight years. As a senior designer and team leader, Kraft looked after clients such as DieMobiliar, Swiss National Bank, BASF and Thai Airways. He and his team are particularly proud of the development of the new Mini logo in 1999. Kraft also met his current partners at Interbrand. "All three of us come from a design background and really enjoyed the Interbrand school because Zintzmeyer is a pioneer in the industry, an inventor, visionary and charismatic guy." Carsten Scholtysik founded his own agency in Basel in 1996. He was followed five years ago by Armin Niederberger and in June 2004 by Daniel Kraft. With retroactive effect from January 1, 2005, the latter is now a participating partner at Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft. Today, all three partners are simultaneously responsible for the operational business, design, concept, strategy and company management. As of July 1, the Basel offices have also been concentrated at the new headquarters on Marktgasse in Zurich's Niederdorf district, where 20 people work.
UBS, for which Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft is the lead agency responsible for the visual identity, was the main reason for the rapid growth. "Our team provided conceptual and design support for the single-brand implementation in 2003. Since then, we have been responsible for global implementation by means of online guidelines, training and employee communication." A task with an obligation, as UBS is considered one of the most valuable brands in the world and is ranked among the "100 Best Global Brands" in the annual ranking published by Business Week. The qualitative leap in the ranking is primarily attributed to the new single-brand strategy and its extremely consistent implementation.
The agency launched another successful brand identity four years ago for Carl F. Bucherer's new watch label. However, numerous SMEs also have their brand embossed at Marktgasse. "Such business-to-business brands are not spectacular for the general public, but they are just as attractive for us."
Brand comes from Merken. With this in mind, Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft is also working on the appearance of the "City of Zurich". The population should "remember" what the city offers them. The umbrella brand strategy is intended to put a stop to the tendency for each department to give itself an identity, thereby diluting the city's range of services. After all, the same "company" is behind the Theater Spektakel and waste disposal.
Daniel Kraft wants to "introduce long-term and sustainable mechanisms".

Andreas Panzeri

Media Every year, the average Swiss spends a good 3,000 francs on media - a 10-billion-franc business. Let the figure melt in your mouth: private households in Switzerland invest 9.4 billion francs in newspapers, magazines, the Internet, cable networks, radio and television fees, TV sets, computers, cinemas and books - every year. "The economic importance of the media is finally becoming clear. Media are not a quantité négligeable," says Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Swiss Press Association. However, media consumers only spend around 20 percent or CHF 600 of the average CHF 3,000 per household on print media. This is the result of a study entitled "medienbudget.ch", which was carried out for the first time by a project group led by communications consultant Thérèse Ruedin on behalf of the Swiss Press Association. Private households spend 24.7 percent on PCs and the Internet and 22.5 percent on television (concessions, cable fees, pay TV and hardware). Only 20.2% is spent on print media. The remaining percentages are divided between consumer electronics (15.5%), books (9.4%), radio (5%) and cinema (2.7%).
The development over time shows a steady increase in media expenditure. In 2004, it rose by 3.5 percent compared to the previous year. However, this growth relates almost exclusively to electronic media. The Swiss spend around a fifth more on concessions and cable networks with government-imposed prices alone than on all print media combined.
The study is the first of its kind in Europe and for the first time provides an impression of how much people value their media consumption. Lebrument notes with satisfaction the possibility of comparing the income of the fee-based state media and the free market, which gives hope for more political decisions in favor of the private media in the future. Together with the foreign print titles available on newsstands, around 3,500 newspapers and magazines are permanently available in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the average amount spent on press products in this country is only CHF 600, of which almost two thirds is spent on subscriptions and the rest on individual sales. Last year, growth amounted to just 0.6 percent, with single copy sales actually falling by 1.9 percent. The strongest sales relate to the daily, regional weekly and Sunday press (+1 percent), while the general, financial and business press slumped (-3 percent). Nevertheless, stability is high with a wide range of products.
The "medienbudget.ch" study also identifies stable sales for books, which have remained unchanged since 2002 with annual sales of CHF 900 million. The cinema industry is experiencing an upswing (+5.5 percent compared to 2003). Multiplex cinemas have a market share of 23 percent, while open-air movie theaters have a share of only 2.8 percent.
SRG gobbles up the mostIn contrast, the big winners are the cable network operators and SRG SSR idée suisse. The study shows that SRG, which is privileged in terms of license fees, devours the lion's share of the media expenditure of private Swiss households. In 2004, license fees alone accounted for almost two thirds of the total amount spent on print titles. If you add the expenditure on pay-TV subscriptions and fees for the cable network - 90 percent of households are wired - then the expenditure is roughly the same. If the annual expenditure on new devices is also included, expenditure on newspapers and magazines is 36% higher.
In addition, recorded music, DVDs, PC and video games, including players, video and hi-fi systems and car electronics, account for CHF 1.5 billion a year. The recorded music business has plummeted by a quarter to 231 million francs since 2000 as a result of illegal music downloads. In contrast, DVD sales skyrocketed by 25 percent in a single year to a total of 249 million francs. This is a real success story, even though only 45% of all private households have DVD-capable players. The Swiss spent 147 million francs on PC and video games, 17 percent less than in the previous year. According to the study, this slump is due to price and margin erosion as well as supply bottlenecks.
Private internet users in Switzerland spent around CHF 2.3 billion on computers and the internet last year. The segment thus grew by 12.2 percent. CHF 1.5 billion was spent on hardware and basic software, CHF 444 million on broadband connections (+53.6%) and CHF 385 million on Internet downloads. Broadband connections, which are already available to 770000 Internet surfers in Switzerland, are experiencing explosive growth. Following a slump in sales in 2003 and an increase in 2004 (+4.3%), further growth is expected in 2005 and 2006, particularly in the area of PC installations and hardware.
The kiosks cooperatedThe study was able to base its secondary statistical data collection on data from around 17 companies, institutions and associations from the public and private sectors. "For the first time, the kiosks agreed to make their sales data available to us," explains project manager Thérèse Ruedin.
The big telecoms providers, on the other hand, have bitten off more than they can chew and have steadfastly refused to provide insight into their figures. Ruedin suspects that the big players do not want to be shown their cards, as the business volumes involved are probably huge. The "medienbudget.ch" study is to be published annually in future.
René Worni

Associations After a competitive presentation among three St. Gallen agencies, the Gastro St. Gallen association chose the partner agencies Pulpcom/Samcom, who were entrusted with a campaign on the subject of "Smoke-free restaurants and protection for restaurant employees". With posters, PR measures, an online presence and various other means of communication, the campaign is aimed at the public and association members. The campaign will be launched on September 5.

Food The phasing out of milk quotas, the pressure on expenditure and the reform of agricultural policy - the SMP need to prepare themselves. And send image bearer Lovely into a new round. "The primary goal is to produce a lot of milk at a good price and to promote the sale of milk and dairy products," is a guiding principle of the Swiss Milk Producers (SMP). Seen in this light, 2004 was a successful year: sales of fresh milk products, cheese and butter developed positively with a parallel rise in world market prices. However, the federal government is tightening the savings screw in the current and coming year in order to save CHF 90 million in allowances compared to last year. In addition, quotas are to be completely abolished in 2009, the "biggest current challenge", according to the SMP. In 2004, Swiss cows delivered over 3.2 million tons of milk (+1.2% compared to 2003), 14 percent of which was sold as drinking milk (+0.4%). Until a few years ago, innovations established in the out-of-home catering sector were only able to partially compensate for the long-lasting decline, and the organization uses basic marketing as the basis for promoting milk sales, which is intended to strengthen domestic products against imports and keep them present throughout the year. In 1992, the SMP included the virtuoso cow Lovely from Advico Young & Rubicam's Gockhausen advertising stable in its package of measures to safeguard producers' incomes in the face of increasingly powerful competition in the beverage market. In the twelve years that followed, she repeatedly demonstrated her technical superiority in witty commercials, posters and advertisements: among others, gladiators, sumo wrestlers, the lunar superstars USA and a surprise Olympian as a ski jumper. She has also repeatedly lived up to her role as a likeable and versatile milk ambassador on posters and advertisements. The image bearer has made it everywhere: Lovely National sticks her cow's mouth out in a funny and cheeky way in recipe brochures, as MMS and screensavers, in children's and textbooks and on muesli trays to the various segments - especially 15 to 39-year-olds. It has increasingly anchored and enhanced the health value and image of milk. The agency AY&R has now created two new commercials and two print/poster subjects for SMP. Lovely shows once again what she and milk are made of. The main commercial takes us to the Wild West, or more precisely, to a cowboy movie from the good old days. In it, Lovely stands next to a cowboy who skillfully twirls his revolver, dares to dance and shoots shots into the air with exuberance. But he should have left that alone: The top CinemaScope bar, hit by the bullets, smacks him full on the head. Lovely, cool as ever, swiftly heaves the bar back into place. But that's not all. In a short commercial, Lovely quickly traps an annoying fly between her horns. And in advertisements and on posters, Lovely demonstrates with her family what artistic feats she is capable of thanks to her strong bones.
The staggered deployment of the new work by CD Daniel Comte's team started a few days ago and is to be switched on again in a second wave at the end of the year.
The current main spot: Lovely coolly heaves the CinemaScope bar back into its rightful place, while the gunslinger lies slain on the ground.

Luca Aloisi

Kabel Cablecom is considering going public. The cable network group is "constantly examining all options, including an IPO", commented a Reuters report. The news agency had quoted an anonymous source as saying that Cablecom had allegedly spoken to several investment banks about a sale or an initial public offering. The latter is most likely and could take place in the second half of the year.

TVAt the end of June, the general meeting of Geneva's local television station Léman Bleu approved the entry of French publisher Philippe Hersant. Hersant's competitor, the Lausanne publishing house Edipresse, had previously withdrawn its offer, as reported by Le Temps. Hersant and his partner Stéphane Barbier-Mueller are injecting fresh capital of CHF 1.2 million in two tranches, bringing the total capital to CHF 3 million. According to the Tribune de Genève, the exact distribution of shares among the new shareholders has not yet been determined, but the city is to retain a majority. The advertising management will remain with the broadcaster as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Banks After a soft launch, Hesskiss supports the credit and leasing company Cashgate with classic advertising as it enters the market.In international comparison, the Swiss consumer credit business can hardly be described as big business. The financing product is still struggling with its negative image. However, reports of over-indebted young people and seizures are much less likely to affect the reputation of lending institutions than in the past. The Consumer Credit Act, which came into force two years ago and is intended to check creditworthiness more rigorously and prevent the debt trap, is likely to have contributed to this. Cantonal banks are becoming activeAccording to statistics from the ZEK (Association for the Management of a Central Office for Credit Information), the volume of consumer credit agreements increased by 5.4 percent to around CHF 6.6 billion at the end of 2004. At 400,900 contracts, the number of current consumer loans also rose slightly compared to the previous year (+1.6%). As not only the providers - market leaders GE Moneybank and Credit Suisse - but also experts believe that the credit market has great growth potential, this has brought other banks onto the scene. Several cantonal banks (Zürcher, Graubündner, Thurgauer and Schwyzer), together with the regional bank holding company Valiant, want to revive the consumer credit and leasing business under the Cashgate brand. With its own banking license, its own team and a very dense sales network (over 300 bank branches and half as many car dealerships), Cashgate is aiming for a double-digit market share in the medium term.
In order to position Cashgate independently from the competition, pitch winner Hesskiss opted for a special corporate color and a logo that not only conveys the seriousness of the new institution and its sales banks, but also quickly says "consumer finance". At the same time, the fairness in the claim conveys the central motto and the strategic positioning - far removed from disreputable practices. "Because loans and leasing are about realizing customers' dreams, we implemented precisely this in a simple but very sophisticated way," says Tamas Kiss, Managing Director of the agency. The campaign motifs show rooms in which the customer's wish - from a convertible to a vacation - has not yet materialized.
Both internal and external media are supported by creative below-the-line measures, such as the apparently very popular Schoggitaler, and special events.
Effective advertising for the credit institution: rooms that illustrate the customer's wishes with a keyword.

Luca Aloisi

Pierre C. Meier on the eclat between the two poster market leaders.
The current discussion about Swiss poster research (see page 18) leaves us with a bad feeling. The fact that the user group set up by Swiss Poster Research (SPR) was not informed about the implementation problems and differences that had arisen between APG and Clear Channel Plakanda (CCP) is scandalous enough. But the fact that mediation talks between the two providers had been underway for two months was also successfully concealed - both internally and externally. In a press release, APG CEO Kauter unapologetically stated that he was "completely surprised" and "dismayed" by CCP's withdrawal. In good Swiss fashion, the company tried to keep all methodological inconsistencies under wraps. Just don't tell anyone, as it could lead to discussions! This worked perfectly for a while. Now the market's reaction is all the more vehement. The industry associations are protesting and the user group rightly feels that it has been taken for a ride. If we had communicated honestly both internally and externally from the outset, the mood would be more constructive than it is today.
The SPR project, which has been running for five years, has already seen a number of serious differences, which have always been resolved. Now, however, the problems are so serious that an agreement no longer seems possible. We can only speculate about the true reasons for the CCP's withdrawal. Is it the doubt about the reliability of the data, or is it the desire for an internationally compatible and more pragmatic research facility? Is it the cost, or is it the slow progress of the SPR? However, the reasons play a subordinate role. The shambles is there, the damage is great.
The victims are the agencies and advertisers who have been waiting for years for reliable and planning-relevant data for their outdoor advertising. Should it actually come to the point where two non-comparable performance figures are published in future, it would be a disaster for the poster medium - and therefore also for its main providers. CCP and APG must therefore mend the breach, if only in their own interests.
> Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief

Teletext Despite broad support, there is no longer any doubt that Swiss TXT is to be decentralized. The Biel site is acutely endangered. "There is a sense of helplessness and uncertainty among the workforce," says Andreas Schneider from the works committee at Swiss TXT in Biel. The uncertainty is weighing on the mood of the 185 employees of Teletext AG, which was founded in 1983, was renamed Swiss TXT in 1997 and is 97 percent owned by SRG. In response to the current situation, the staff have set up the committee in an attempt to make their voices heard by the parent company. Since SRG management announced last March that Swiss TXT would now also be caught up in the maelstrom of SRG's Internet strategy, following the planned cutbacks at Swiss Info in Berne, which previously had a nine-language foreign service, with possible job cuts of 70 to 80. SRG wants Swiss TXT to move closer to the broadcasters and be distributed to Geneva, Lugano and Zurich. "The decision has been made, the decision of the Board of Directors is firm," confirms the Head of SRG Corporate Communications, Simon Meyer, the end for Biel.
Some at Swiss TXT may have wondered how serious the parent company still is about its cross-cultural idée suisse. Shouldn't there be a big question mark behind the giant letters of the SRG logo on the roof of the Biel/Bienne Congress Center, which towers over the city and where Swiss TXT occupies nine floors?
Staff want an alternative "Yes, we've already thought of something like that," says Andreas Schneider. He is a co-signatory of the open letter of June 20 - it is already the third - to SRG Director General Armin Walpen. In it, the works committee, on behalf of the entire workforce, calls on SRG to examine alternatives to decentralization, above all the expansion of the current Swiss TXT in Biel into a trilingual multimedia center.
The idea for such a competence center originated in the political arena, when a broad and still ongoing wave of solidarity was expressed towards the company after the SRG restructuring plans became known. The Bern government council intends to intervene with a letter to the SRG general management these days and repeat its proposal for a multimedia center to counter the expected loss of know-how and qualified jobs, as it did in response to two motions from political circles in Biel.
But the vision of a prosperous city of communication, as envisioned by Biel's mayor and National Councillor Hans Stöckli, is starting to crack. "Not a pleasant thing," comments Stöckli. For this reason, the Bernese and Neuchâtel parliaments should also campaign for the multimedia center in federal Bern, and Stöckli himself has already responded with an interpellation in the National Council. He doubts that a decentralized Swiss TXT could be operated more cost-effectively than centrally in Biel, where wages are low.
So far, those responsible at SRG have left no doubt about their internet strategy. All SRG broadcasters already operate sophisticated websites with more or less extensive user offerings to enhance their programs. However, several independent websites in the catchment area of the SRG broadcasting chains - websites of the respective broadcaster plus Swiss Info and Swiss TXT - would be too much, explains Simon Meyer. "We can't afford this for reasons of efficiency and have to streamline the structures," he emphasizes. Added value - the strategy is not aimed at additional benefits and offers, but at deepening the programs.
However, TSR in French-speaking Switzerland is cultivating its own interpretation of added value with an actual online boutique. Naturally, this has also attracted the attention of Swiss newspaper publishers, who want to stand up to the competition from their internet platforms. "The prerequisite is that SRG dispenses with advertising on the Internet," says Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Publishers' Association. SRG has already decided this in a decision by the Board of Directors, but it has not yet been clarified whether SRG web portals will be allowed to offer their platform to sponsors in future.
Advertising through the back door? If Swiss TXT becomes part of the channel chains' websites in the long term, there will be further problems to solve. After all, the company has a license for the commercial use of its services, which go beyond the news service and TV programs with the Love and Fun, Travel, Tourism and Entertainment sections, for example. The cross-media Teletext service enjoys a high level of attention and increasing growth rates: 1.3 million people use Teletext every day. ORF, for which Swiss TXT provides all teletext services, is already advertising the advertising potential of the Swiss brand. Advertising could therefore sneak onto the station portals through the back door. Simon Meyer denies this: "We don't want to compete with the private providers and don't want to keep any back doors open."
However, there could still be a drop of bitterness for Biel: Director General Walpen recently announced internally that the overheads, i.e. individual work areas such as the IT department of Swiss TXT, could remain in Biel. "For the time being, the idea is to split up only the editorial offices of Swiss TXT and leave the rest in Biel," explains Meyer.
SRG does not necessarily have to obey political guidelines when it comes to Swiss TXT's decentralization project. "Unlike Swiss Info, our license does not require parliamentary blessing from Bern," explains Swiss TXT Deputy Director Beat Schneider, adding that it does not matter whether Biel or Bienne is split up. So the political lobby for the Biel site will probably have to bite the bullet. Hans Ulrich Büschi, President of SRG idée suisse Bern, Fribourg and Valais, was initially an opponent of decentralization out of concern for the media location of Biel and the canton of Bern. He now points to the fact that Swiss TXT is in the red to the tune of half a million francs and, with regard to the digitalization of television, says: "The teletext medium is an obsolete model in the long term."
SRG must make savingsOn June 28, SRG SSR idée suisse announced rigorous cost-cutting measures to the media, in a first round amounting to CHF 80 million from 2007. The company expects
a funding gap of CHF 160 million by 2009 as a result of the revised Radio and Television Act (RTVA), exemption from fees for AHV recipients, discontinuation of federal subsidies for Swiss Info, investment requirements in new production and broadcasting technologies, more expensive sports and film rights and the multimedia future.
In view of the real decline in SRG's financial resources, which is currently presenting a balanced financial year, fee increases must be expected. (rw)
Glittering façade, gloomy prospects: The end of Swiss TXT at the Biel site is no longer in sight.
René Worni