Around 250 jobs at SRG to fall victim to cost-cutting measures

SRG is working on the detailed planning until the end of September. It will then consult the social partners and employees, according to a press release on Thursday. Implementation will start in 2019, and a social plan will be applied to the employees affected.

20 million at SRF

After the rejection of the No Billag initiative in March, SRG had already announced its intention to save around CHF 100 million. Now it is also known where savings are to be made: 20 million francs will be allocated to SRF, 15 million to RTS, 15 million to the general management, 10 million to RSI, 1 million to RTR and 1 million to SWI Swissinfo. In addition, there are overarching savings - primarily in the areas of infrastructure and distribution. These amount to CHF 40 million. Real estate costs are to be reduced significantly in all regions. SRG plans to reinvest CHF 20 million.

The SRG Board of Directors on Wednesday approved the framework of the savings and efficiency improvement plan proposed by the General Management. The savings exercise is justified by the Federal Council's capping of fee income and declining advertising revenues.

SSM: High number of jobs

The Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals (SSM) called the number of jobs affected "high" in a reaction. The announced cutbacks will hit the labor market hard, especially in the hard-hit media sector. The union demanded in its statement that layoffs should be avoided. As part of the consultation process, it wants to present alternatives to the job cuts together with the employees. These must be seriously examined by the SRG management. The SSM criticized that SRG only wanted to make minor savings in its offering. It is therefore to be feared that the remaining employees will have to produce even more and that the stress at the workplace will increase. There are already areas in which the work cannot be done in the usual quality with fewer and fewer staff.

The journalists' association Impressum expressed its dismay at the massive cutbacks announced. As the private information media are forced to make savings, Imprint demands in a statement that the democracy-relevant journalistic information services at SRG be expanded and the necessary resources be maintained. The clear result against "No-Billag" has clearly shown that the population demands strong, independent information services from the SRG. Journalistic information continues to be the most important raison d'être of the public media service.

Admeira share sold

SRG also announced on Thursday that the purchase agreement for the sale of its shares in advertising marketer Admeira had been signed on Tuesday (Werbewoche.ch reported). As already announced in April, the other Admeira shareholders Ringier and Swisscom are taking over the SRG share package of 33.3 percent in equal shares. Admeira will continue to market advertising for SRG stations.

The sale of the SRG shares makes it possible to take on new inventory holders and shareholders, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Ringer CEO Marc Walder was quoted as saying in a press release. In this way, the innovation project can be led into the future free of trench warfare in media policy.

Admeira has been operational since 2016. With the advertising alliance, Ringier, SRG and Swisscom wanted to strengthen the Swiss advertising market as a whole and better compete against foreign online giants such as Google, Facebook and YouTube. Publishers in particular had criticized SRG's involvement in Admeira.

Disappointment in Bern

According to a statement, the city and canton of Bern and the Swiss Capital Region Association are disappointed that the SRG wants to thoroughly examine the move of part of the SRF radio editorial office from Bern to Zurich. After widespread opposition to this plan had formed, it would have been time for a stop to the exercise, they think. (SDA)

Image: Wikimedia, AnBuKu via SRG SSR