Regional service
Guest commentary It is better to have one strong SRG than many regional multimedia monopolies, says Günter Heuberger.
Guest commentary It is better to have a strong SRG than many regional multimedia monopolies.SRG currently has many construction sites and is the focus of political parties and competing media houses because of the planned fee increase. It is undisputed and was constantly emphasized during the debate on the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA): We want a strong SRG in order to strengthen important pillars of our state. At the same time, we need private radio and television stations to provide a regional public service. The new RTVA has mapped media policy well and created workable compromises in all areas. But new lines had to be drawn. With a more generous fee-splitting system, there are now ten to twelve new allies to fight for the fee increases.
Conversely, price supervisors and consumer organizations will ensure that the desires of the SRG and the new fee payers do not grow sky-high. The free reception of radio and TV programs has become a fundamental right in recent years that must not be undermined by the commercialization of our society.
Pay TV and pay radio are of great importance, so that desires for new business areas are also being awakened here. With Bluewin TV and Cablecom's new programming content, the telecom industry's entry into the broadcast sector is already underway.
In the past, policymakers wanted many small broadcasters independent of the regional newspapers to create more proximity. Today, almost all of them are integrated into the multimedia publishing houses. In the future, newspaper publishers - at the request of their association - should receive fee money for their TV stations. However, the only publisher-independent regional TV should not receive a coverage area.
With the fee money, the monopoly publishers will be able to blithely continue their concentration in the newspaper sector. This is another facet of Swiss media policy and perhaps one reason why the decision-makers in the federal government, cantons and municipalities would rather have a strong SRG than an unpredictable bunch of regional multimedia monopolies that want to squeeze out everything else.
Günter Heuberger is the founder and head of Radio Top and Tele Top.
Conversely, price supervisors and consumer organizations will ensure that the desires of the SRG and the new fee payers do not grow sky-high. The free reception of radio and TV programs has become a fundamental right in recent years that must not be undermined by the commercialization of our society.
Pay TV and pay radio are of great importance, so that desires for new business areas are also being awakened here. With Bluewin TV and Cablecom's new programming content, the telecom industry's entry into the broadcast sector is already underway.
In the past, policymakers wanted many small broadcasters independent of the regional newspapers to create more proximity. Today, almost all of them are integrated into the multimedia publishing houses. In the future, newspaper publishers - at the request of their association - should receive fee money for their TV stations. However, the only publisher-independent regional TV should not receive a coverage area.
With the fee money, the monopoly publishers will be able to blithely continue their concentration in the newspaper sector. This is another facet of Swiss media policy and perhaps one reason why the decision-makers in the federal government, cantons and municipalities would rather have a strong SRG than an unpredictable bunch of regional multimedia monopolies that want to squeeze out everything else.
Günter Heuberger is the founder and head of Radio Top and Tele Top.
