Federal Council wants to reduce radio and television fee to CHF 300

The Federal Council wants to write the lower household fees and the relief for around 60,000 companies into the Radio and Television Ordinance. The consultation on this will last until February 1, 2024.

"Certain need for action"

Last but not least, the government wants to counter the popular initiative "200 francs is enough! (SRG initiative)", which it recommends rejecting. A yes vote to the popular initiative would reduce the share of SRG's budget accounted for by levies from the current CHF 1.25 billion to around CHF 650 million.

"This would have far-reaching consequences for the journalistic offering and the size and structure of the federally organized SRG," Media Minister Albert Rösti told the media in Bern on Wednesday. "However, the Federal Council sees a certain need for action."

The Federal Council wants to reduce the levy for households to CHF 312 from 2027 and to CHF 300 from 2029. In addition, over 60,000 companies are to be exempt from the levy from 2027.

Today, companies with an annual turnover subject to VAT of CHF 500,000 have to pay it. In future, only companies with an annual turnover of CHF 1.2 billion will have to do so. This would exempt around 80 percent of companies from the tax.

"Horse trading"

The Federal Council is calling on the SRG to make savings and focus more on audio and audiovisual offerings as well as information, education and culture. In entertainment and sport, the focus should be on what others do not cover. Rösti spoke of "several hundred jobs" that could fall victim to the restructuring.

The reduction of the household fee in two stages gives the SRG an appropriate transitional period to implement the cost-saving measures. As part of the concession, however, the Federal Council wants to stipulate that SRG must remain anchored in all four language areas, said Rösti.

The SRG initiative wants to reduce radio and television fees from the current CHF 335 per household per year to CHF 200. In an initial reaction to the Keystone-SDA news agency, Hans-Ulrich Bigler, one of the co-presidents, spoke of "horse-trading to win over voters".

SRG must fulfill its core mandate, and this must be defined politically and not by the company itself. In addition, the turnover for the tax exemption for SMEs is far too low, said Bigler.

"Short-sighted"

In the words of the trade union federation, it goes without saying that the initiators will stick to their "radical and ideological" request. This means that the Federal Council's counter-concept will cause "massive preventive" damage to the SRG.

The Alliance for Media Diversity, which is fighting the initiative, emphasized how poor the financial situation of private media is in light of the job cuts at CH Media, which were also announced on Wednesday. It was therefore "short-sighted to substantially weaken the public media company at a time characterized by disinformation and fake news".

In an initial reaction, the SRG itself outlined the consequences of the Federal Council's proposal: In addition to the personnel consequences, this would "inevitably" have consequences for regional information, sports productions, popular major events or co-productions of Swiss films and music recordings. (SDA)