Germans resist the shutdown of the Swiss DVB-T signal

Soon the distribution of the digital SRF signal via antenna will be a thing of the past: On June 3, the SRG switches off the DVT-T signal (Werbewoche.ch reported). The change affects comparatively few people in Switzerland; only 1.4 percent of households use the signal today, according to SRG. For this small number of people, it is not worth continuing to operate the expensive DVB-T service, according to SRG.

How the NZZ on Sunday writes, however, many more people are likely to be affected by the end of terrestrial transmission of SRG programs than the figures communicated would lead us to believe. As in Austria, German cable network operators also feed the SRF signal into their network and make it available to their customers in southern Germany. This is because SRF can also be received via antenna on the other side of the border.

In Baden-Württemberg, people do not want to do without SRF programming. In Waldshut, for example, concerned residents - mostly pensioners - have come forward and expressed the wish to be allowed to continue watching Swiss television broadcasts, says state office spokeswoman Susanne Heim to the NZZ on Sunday. CDU politician Sabine Hartmann has taken up the concern and written a letter to Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. Who is interested in cross-border understanding, rejects the shutdown of Swiss television, it says. People on the Upper Rhine are interested in what is happening in Switzerland, as well as in the view of Germany from the outside.

Felix Schreiner, a member of the Bundestag, is also asking Kretschmann to ensure that people north of the Rhine can continue to receive Swiss television, which is popular in the border region.

However, it is unlikely that the SRG will change its mind. 220 transmitters are needed to broadcast the signal. They cost 10 million francs a year. Money that SRG no longer wants to spend in view of the new austerity measures. SRG spokesman Edi Estermann confirms that the company can "no longer afford this expensive form of broadcasting. He also adds that according to the new concession, SRG would have to stop broadcasting via antenna by the end of 2019 anyway.

However, SRF programs are also particularly popular in neighboring countries because of the sports broadcasts. Due to its small market size, SRG has been able to buy rights in the past that could only have been dreamed of on free TV in other countries. For example, it paid five million francs for the rights to the entire Champions League season. Today, Teleclub is already spending four times more for this package - and is thus outdoing SRG. On SRF, the Champions League can now only be seen in a slimmed-down form, and the live broadcast of the final has even been lost altogether.

According to NZZ on Sunday the helpdesk set up by the SRG to switch off the antenna signal has already received 4,500 inquiries. 40 percent of these come from abroad. Not only from Germany and Austria, but also from France and Italy. In northern Italy, people regret the end of RSI programs not only because of the sports broadcasts, but also because they will have to do without the Swiss quiz shows and the cartoon series "Scacciapensieri," which is popular with children.