Tamedia loses stage in battle for SBB advertising space
Tamedia's request for preliminary injunctive relief against the SBB's allocation of advertising space has been rejected for the time being. In an interim ruling issued on Wednesday, the Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen denied the media group's request.
On February 23, 2017, SBB published an invitation to tender in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce for all new rental contracts for third-party advertising in stations and trains from 2019. This involves poster advertising space in major cities, as well as interior train advertising and digital advertising platforms.
As a result, six offers were received, including one from Tamedia and one from Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG), the previous user of the advertising space. The rental contracts concluded with APG expire at the end of this year after a ten-year term. In November 2017, SBB announced that APG had again been awarded the contract for the advertising space.
Tamedia defended itself against this. On December 5, 2017, an investigating judge took precautionary measures to prohibit SBB from taking any measures with regard to the awarding of the mandate, in particular the signing of a contract with APG.
Precautionary measure rejected
In the interim decision published on Wednesday, the Federal Administrative Court now rejects the precautionary measures requested by Tamedia against SBB to confirm the ban.
According to the ruling, SBB may make the advertised third-party advertising space available to APG for the duration of the proceedings. Otherwise, it could lose millions if it is unable to rent out the advertising space from the beginning of 2019. The decision can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court within 30 days. (SDA)
