RTVG: National Council wants fixed fee splitting

On Monday, the National Council decided by a clear majority that private radio and television stations should receive a fixed 4% of the SRG reception fees of CHF 1.1 billion. This would mean CHF 16 million for private radio stations instead of the current CHF 8 million and CHF 28 million instead of the current CHF 5 million for TV stations. The Council of States had proposed a more flexible solution with a bandwidth of 3 to 5 percent. With this difference, the Radio and Television Act (RTVA) will return to the Council of States. Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger had lobbied in vain for the Council of States to give way. He considers it too rigid to create an automatic spending mechanism, even though the development of the radio and television landscape is unpredictable. Committee spokesperson Peter Vollmer, on the other hand, was of the opinion that a fixed percentage would ensure funding security, especially for smaller radio stations. The National Council also decided that the Independent Complaints Authority (UBI) would not be expanded into an independent supervisory authority and would continue to only assess the editorial part of radio and television. Supervision of advertising and sponsorship will remain with the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). The losing committee unit wanted to strengthen the UBI because program content is increasingly interspersed with advertising elements, so that supervision from a single source would be better. The Council of States will deal with the remaining differences next Monday.