SRG Annual General Meeting: Switzerland as a media center and general elections to the Board of Directors

President Andreas Schefer, who has led the regional SRG association since 2009, was unanimously re-elected for a four-year term. 151 members of the SRG Bern Fribourg Valais cooperative and over 20 guests from politics and the media listened to a presentation by Roger de Weck, Director General of SRG, on Switzerland as a media center in the digital age at the Hotel Freienhof in Thun. In his analysis of the media situation in Switzerland, he pointed out that the environment for SRG is becoming increasingly competitive and demanding. This was reported by SRG in a press release on Saturday.

Alluding to the upcoming discussion on fees and the planned changes, de Weck made it clear that SRG would have to do more with fewer financial resources in the future. Taking on new and additional tasks with less money is the first challenge. The second is technical development, which is progressing very rapidly. Everything is being digitized and SRG is rapidly transforming into an IT company. The third challenge cited by the SRG Director General was the huge real estate investments that SRG would have to make. Roger de Weck showed the audience how media usage is changing: The use of television and radio via a specific channel, which is still the "main gateway" for media consumption today, is increasingly being replaced by the "secondary gateway" of the Internet. There are already radio and television programs that have more viewers and listeners on the Internet (via podcast or time-shifted online) than live broadcasts. Increasing competition is also a huge challenge: "Today there are around 300 TV channels," noted de Weck - with global companies such as Time Warner, YouTube, Al Jazeera and Axel Springer getting involved, as well as large public and private media companies in neighboring countries. Roger de Weck: "The turning point is at least as big as the introduction of the printing press in 1450." In this increasingly competitive environment, SRG and its staff are "pushing themselves to the limit". The commitment of SRG employees and their outstanding expertise are an important asset in this environment. "We want to do good journalism and remain true to journalistic principles." For de Weck, it is a privilege to be able to work for SRG: "SRG is Switzerland in miniature."

Two new board members
The statutory business was conducted under the leadership of President Andreas Schefer. In his brief review of the financial year, he expressed his satisfaction with the good use of the services on offer and the cooperative's financial situation. The Annual General Meeting elected Matthias Eggel (Brig-Glis) and Peter Flück (Unterseen) as new members of the Board of Directors. Eggel works as an economist for a large insurance company in Berne and is a councillor in Brig-Glis. Flück is an entrepreneur and a member of the Bernese cantonal parliament. They replace Rose-Marie Wyder-Imhof (Brig) and Ueli Scheidegger (Lohn-Ammannsegg). The existing Board members were re-elected for a new term of office of four years. The meeting confirmed the office of President Andreas Schefer (Bern), who has led the SRG Bern Fribourg Valais since 2009, and elected him for a further four years.