Swiss television takes a new approach for children's channel

 Swiss Television (SF) is once again planning a children's channel. However, the project still has to be submitted to and approved by the SRG General Management. The channel should go on air at the beginning of 2009, as SF spokesperson Urs Durrer confirmed to SDA in a report by the Basler Zeitung. In addition to a collaboration with the children's channel KiKa from ARD and ZDF, it is also possible to go it alone. The channel would recoup some of the costs through advertising. According to Durrer, however, the SRG will decide when to launch the channel and what form it will take. Its spokesperson Daniel Steiner explained that the SRG would check whether the project was "strategically and financially compliant" if an application was received. If it approves the application, a license must be applied for from the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom).
SRG had already planned a children's channel last year. However, it put the project on ice after the Federal Council decided not to
The government had only approved a 2.5 percent increase in fees from 6.5 percent. Televisiun Rumantscha would have been able to broadcast on the planned channel in the evening. It is not clear whether this will be the case again with the new project: the decision lies with SRG, said SF spokesperson Durrer.