Federal Council creates new radio and TV areas
The wrangling over TV and radio coverage areas has come to an end: on Wednesday, the Federal Council divided Switzerland into 13 coverage areas for regional television with a fee component. It has defined 34 areas for private radio stations.
The wrangling over TV and radio coverage areas has come to an end: on Wednesday, the Federal Council divided Switzerland into 13 coverage areas for regional television with a fee component. It has defined 34 areas for private radio stations. The licenses will be put out to tender in the autumn. Radio and television stations only require a license if they receive licence fee money or wish to use scarce frequencies on preferential terms. In other cases, broadcasting activities can commence following notification to the Federal Office of Communications.
CHF 32 million will now be available for regional television instead of the previous CHF 7 million, while radio stations will receive CHF 16 million instead of CHF 7 million. The support is intended to enable a regional public service of good quality - even in areas where the economic potential for private financing is not sufficient.
According to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), the new coverage areas for television broadcasters usually encompass several cantons. The Federal Council has decided to create two coverage areas for the Zurich-Eastern Switzerland region. One will cover the cantons of Zurich, Schaffhausen and Thurgau. The broadcaster in question will receive a share of the fee for producing its own program windows for the cantons of Schaffhausen and Thurgau. In order to take account of the concerns of the eastern Swiss cantons, the future coverage area of eastern Switzerland will focus on the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell (AR, AI) and the eastern Thurgau districts of Arbon and Bischofszell, writes Bakom.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the new Waadt-Freiburg coverage area was created, which provides a program window for the canton of Fribourg and the Arc jurassien coverage area, which connects the cantons of Neuchâtel, Jura and the Bernese Jura. The canton of Valais forms a single coverage area in which the future licensee will be required to broadcast programs in both French and German.
In 23 of the 34 radio coverage areas, licences with a fee component will be put out to tender. 9 of these licences are intended for complementary non-profit broadcasters. One of the main changes is the alignment of the coverage areas in the Lake Geneva region, the Zurich region and Central Switzerland. In the area between Geneva and Yverdon, four new large coverage areas of equal size will be created. In the greater Zurich-Glarus area, three commercial broadcasters with identical coverage areas will go on air. In central Switzerland, the three broadcasters will also overlap in a significant part of their coverage area in future. Mergers of previously separate coverage areas will take place in the cantons of Graubünden and St. Gallen as well as in the Jura Arc. Winterthur will be the last major agglomeration in German-speaking Switzerland to receive a new coverage area for a complementary, non-profit program.
CHF 32 million will now be available for regional television instead of the previous CHF 7 million, while radio stations will receive CHF 16 million instead of CHF 7 million. The support is intended to enable a regional public service of good quality - even in areas where the economic potential for private financing is not sufficient.
According to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), the new coverage areas for television broadcasters usually encompass several cantons. The Federal Council has decided to create two coverage areas for the Zurich-Eastern Switzerland region. One will cover the cantons of Zurich, Schaffhausen and Thurgau. The broadcaster in question will receive a share of the fee for producing its own program windows for the cantons of Schaffhausen and Thurgau. In order to take account of the concerns of the eastern Swiss cantons, the future coverage area of eastern Switzerland will focus on the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell (AR, AI) and the eastern Thurgau districts of Arbon and Bischofszell, writes Bakom.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the new Waadt-Freiburg coverage area was created, which provides a program window for the canton of Fribourg and the Arc jurassien coverage area, which connects the cantons of Neuchâtel, Jura and the Bernese Jura. The canton of Valais forms a single coverage area in which the future licensee will be required to broadcast programs in both French and German.
In 23 of the 34 radio coverage areas, licences with a fee component will be put out to tender. 9 of these licences are intended for complementary non-profit broadcasters. One of the main changes is the alignment of the coverage areas in the Lake Geneva region, the Zurich region and Central Switzerland. In the area between Geneva and Yverdon, four new large coverage areas of equal size will be created. In the greater Zurich-Glarus area, three commercial broadcasters with identical coverage areas will go on air. In central Switzerland, the three broadcasters will also overlap in a significant part of their coverage area in future. Mergers of previously separate coverage areas will take place in the cantons of Graubünden and St. Gallen as well as in the Jura Arc. Winterthur will be the last major agglomeration in German-speaking Switzerland to receive a new coverage area for a complementary, non-profit program.
