The National Council follows Gregor Rutz and wants to restrict the activities of the SRG
The SRG is to be required to operate exclusively within its core area. On Thursday, the National Council approved a parliamentary initiative proposed by Zurich SVP National Council member Gregor Rutz by a vote of 99 to 78, with three abstentions.
Rutz calls for SRG to only be granted non-licensed activities if there is a compelling economic need for them and only in business areas in which private providers are not already active. He criticized SRG for repeatedly pushing into market areas that were not part of its licensed mandate. Rutz cited SRG's online activities as an example. Three quarters of SRG's funding comes from license fees, Rutz told the Council. In areas in which private companies and SRG are active, there is therefore a distortion of competition.
The National Council's preliminary committee had also spoken out in favor of the proposal. In view of the developments in the media sector, it made sense to examine which activities were actually covered by the license and to define the business areas in which there was a risk of distortion of competition.
A minority, however, rejected the parliamentary initiative. The legal basis was sufficient. SRG can already be prohibited from carrying out activities or have conditions imposed on it if these significantly restrict the scope for development of other media companies. According to the minority, the amendments called for in the initiative would represent too great a restriction for the SRG.
The responsible committee of the Council of States also spoke out against the proposal. In their opinion, the initiative is based on undefined legal terms and would have an innovation-inhibiting effect. Following the "yes" vote in the National Council, the Council of States committee will have to take another look at the matter. (SDA)
