Federal Court confirms ruling against SRG
The SRG lost its case against Tamedia in the Federal Supreme Court. The legal dispute stemmed from a video ad in which radio and television license fees were compared to those of newspaper subscriptions. Tamedia had accused the SRG of unfair competition and filed a lawsuit.
In October 2014, the Zurich Commercial Court ruled in favor of Tamedia and ordered SRG to delete the controversial passages from the "Service Public und Wirtschaftlichkeit" video ad on the Internet (Werbewoche.ch reported). SRG appealed the decision to the Federal Supreme Court. The court has now confirmed the ruling of the lower court and dismissed the appeal, as reported by the NZZ am Sonntag in its latest edition. The central statement of the controversial advertisement is that the costs for daily television are lower than those for daily newspaper reading. The prices for an annual subscription to the Tages-Anzeiger and Sonntagszeitung newspapers as well as Le Matin and Le Matin Dimanche, which all belong to Tamedia, are quoted.
However, according to the law, price comparisons are only permitted for the same quantity and quality. Only truly comparable products may be compared with each other, according to the Federal Supreme Court's ruling of April 15, which is available to the SDA news agency. The specific comparison of the annual reception fee with a newspaper subscription "gives the impression that the media products are objectively comparable". There can be no question of a merely symbolic or striking comparison. According to the Federal Supreme Court, the price comparison in question with the logos of the newspaper products gives the impression that the consumer is worse off with a newspaper subscription than if he pays the reception fees. SRG must bear the court costs of CHF 5,000 and also pay compensation of CHF 6,000 to Tamedia.
"Legal dispute unnecessary"
SRG SSR acknowledges the ruling of the Federal Supreme Court, as it writes in a statement. The offending passage has been removed and the revised version of "SRG SSR - Service public und Wirtschaftlichkeit" was republished at the beginning of December 2014.
Tamedia is pleased that the case is now closed, said company spokesperson Christoph Zimmer on request. "The legal dispute was unnecessary because it was clear from the start that it was a case of unfair competition." (SDA)
