SRF ends "Schawinski" for cost reasons

As SRF has already announced, the company will have to save an additional CHF 16 million in the short term for 2020. The first measures have already been named and partly also affect TV programming.

Now, for cost reasons, a strategic realignment of SRF 1's late-night programming is also taking place, initially for 2020. There will no longer be any in-house productions in the program slots from 10:55 p.m. onward. As a result of this decision, the talk shows "Schawinski" and "ECO talk" will no longer be continued on Monday evenings.

SRF Director Nathalie Wappler comments: "Unfortunately, we cannot achieve the necessary savings targets without impacting programming. That's why we've decided to do away with talk shows on late Monday nights and are planning to realign the slot."

Discussions are still underway with Roger Schawinski about the exact timing of the program change, whether to the beginning or spring of 2020. That also depends on the media entrepreneur's future career plans. It is therefore not yet clear when the last edition of "Schawinski" will be broadcast. Likewise, it is still open what will be shown in the future on the broadcast slot of the two talk shows. SRF will provide information on this as soon as the relevant decisions have been made.

A television story comes to an end

On August 22, 2011, "Schawinski" premiered late Monday evening on SRF 1. For more than eight years, host Roger Schawinski has welcomed one or sometimes several guests from politics, business and society each week for engaging, controversial discussions.

Roger Schawinski: "Returning to the SRF stage once again with a talk show was something I found both surprising and appealing at the time. Every new management wants or needs to change things. I understand that, especially because there is obviously extremely great pressure to save money. I wish Nathalie Wappler every success in her further plans."

SRF Director Nathalie Wappler: "Roger Schawinski has had a decisive and lasting impact on the Swiss media landscape. Whether as co-founder of "Kassensturz," as a private media entrepreneur or as a talk show host. His services to the media industry cannot be overestimated. I would like to thank Roger Schawinski for once again enriching SRF programming so much with his color in recent years."

With the realignment in late-night programming, SRF is also giving up the continuation of "ECO talk. The program was broadcast five times a year, with Reto Lipp discussing developments in the economy and their consequences for companies and people in conversation with business leaders. In the business magazine "ECO," however, the presenter will continue to present background information on economic events on a weekly basis on Monday evenings.