Free Internet television will be subject to a fee
A message from Billag: Starting September 1, 2008, free Internet TV platforms such as Zattoo and Netstream will be subject to a fee. However, the amount of additional revenue remains unclear, as Bakom told *Werbewoche*. It probably won’t amount to much: 95 percent of households already pay TV fees.
As of September 1, 2008, free Internet television platforms will be subject to a fee. Anyone who turns their computer into a TV receiver by using services such as Zattoo or Netstream will have to pay, as the Federal Office of Communications announced on Wednesday at the annual media conference in Biel. Those who already pay fees are not affected by the new regulation. The fee level is the same as for reception with a conventional television set. When asked what prompted the decision to extend the fee obligation to free television offerings, Bakom spokesman Bernhard Bürki told Werbewoche: "This has become somewhat apparent due to the development of Internet television. The quality of images from programs such as Zattoo has improved so much that viewers might consider watching television only on their computers in future." Quality has played a decisive role, as has the equal legal treatment of the various offerings.
Bakom is not clear about the amount of additional fee income from the TV sector. "We are somewhat in the dark ourselves. 95 percent of all households already pay fees. We don't know how many of the remaining five percent only watch TV via the Internet," says Bürki. However, the excitement among providers of free TV platforms is likely to be limited. On the one hand, this measure by Bakom was foreseeable, and on the other hand, a large proportion of the five percent of non-payers are likely to be television abstainers.
