SRG mobilizes against longer replay TV

The dispute about Replay TV dragged on for years. The reason: While TV signal providers such as Swisscom or UPC want to offer their customers the most attractive conditions possible with the option of watching programs several days in arrears, the TV broadcasters see themselves cheated out of their advertising money. As consumers increasingly fast-forward through commercial breaks, the medium of television is becoming less attractive to advertisers, and declining advertising revenues are the result.

The broadcasters are compensated for this, but the amounts are not enough to compensate them for advertising money losses. In recent years The demand to limit replay TV therefore arose.. Consumer advocates and signal providers even feared that the function would be abolished by political means - a no-go from the TV customer's point of view.

The National Council's legal committee wanted to enshrine in law that cable network companies may only allow commercials to be rewound if the TV broadcaster has agreed to this. In 2019, however, the proposal fell through in parliament - the fear that the popular replay function could ultimately fall by the wayside was too great. (Werbewoche.ch reported). The industry promised to come to an agreement.

Watch or pay for advertising

In June 2020, the parties to the dispute then announced a compromise: In the future, viewers will have to accept seven-second commercial clips at the beginning if they want to call up programs in the past. During commercial breaks, they will be given the option of jumping directly to the end of the block after three commercials.

Alternatively, customers will be able to pay five francs more per month and skip all commercial breaks at the touch of a button. While this variant is to be available at all stations, the former will only work at those channels that agree to the industry agreement. For all others, it will be necessary to fast-forward "as usual.

SRG opposes the extension of the replay duration

While CH-Media's head of broadcasting Roger Elsener, for example, says the new regulation SonntagsZeitung the situation is different for another major market player. Even then, the SRG did not agree. The reason was that it did not agree with the "little treat" offered to viewers to make the restriction of the replay function palatable to them. The maximum replay duration is to be extended from seven to 14 days.

SRG files an appeal

How the SonntagsZeitung writes in the current issue, SRG now wants to legally bring down the compromise. It is preparing an appeal so that the Federal Arbitration Commission for the Exploitation of Copyrights and Related Rights does not give the green light to the new regulation. A 24-page application has already been drafted by a law firm to allow SRG to be a party in the approval procedure.
It speaks of a "massive encroachment on the rights of broadcasters" that could not be compensated for by the negotiated increase in compensation that broadcasters receive from signal providers.

Competition for the SRG streaming platform

In addition, the paper states, the SRG sees the SonntagsZeitung present, its pet project, the Play Suisse streaming platform, in jeopardy. While the replay providers received the broadcasters' content "for a modest fee," the SRG would have to purchase the content for its platform at a high price. The demand from this: The holding period for the content must remain at the current duration of seven days.

The SRG's arguments are contradicted by the collecting societies, which represent the rights of authors. They have submitted a response to the arbitration commission. Despite its high market share, the SRG, which is 78 percent financed by fees, is by no means the hardest hit by the loss of revenue from advertising, they say. The private broadcasters, who are much more dependent on advertising, are supporting the tariff compromise.

"Play Suisse" is the name of SRG's national streaming platform, which will be launched in November. Starting in the fall, it will offer content from all language regions in multiple languages. (Source: SRG)

New advertising models instead of dispute over compensation

Even if the remuneration for content increases, it is not possible to compensate for the loss of advertising by increasing the usage fees - all parties have recognized this, according to the response. The focus of the broadcasting companies is much more on the creation of new advertising models, writes Suisseimage managing director Valentin Blank. And further: The SRG contradicts itself n its argumentation, since it complains that it receives too little money for its content on replay TV - but at the same time it wants to make it available free of charge and without revenue via its streaming platform in the future.

According to SRG spokesman Edi Estermann, the main fear at Leutschenbach is that the extended replay duration could make the rights to films and series more expensive or even unaffordable.

If there is another disagreement, the legislature will intervene in the regulation of replay TV.