SSF: Operation is discontinued

In the fall of 2012, new operators were found for what was then Swiss sports television (Werbewoche.ch reported). They had set themselves the goal of achieving a turnaround within two years, SSF said in a statement on Thursday. However, income from advertising and sponsorship has now fallen far short of expectations and additional investors have not yet been found, meaning that the channel will probably have to be shut down on June 30, 2013. In return, the former operators of Schweizer Sportfernsehen planned to further expand the program offering with an online strategy on the Internet. In addition to regular live broadcasts of handball matches, live broadcasts of other sporting events are also planned, which will be made available via Internettv.ch and all mobile devices.

In January of this year, SSF Media was launched as the new operator with the repositioning and redesign of SSF "Sport Szene Fernsehen". The fact that the emergency brake has now had to be pulled is primarily due to the lack of income from advertising and sponsorship in the first quarter and the unpromising outlook for 2013 as a whole, the press release continues. The fact that the advertising industry has not had any viewer figures at its disposal since the beginning of the year due to the new, questionable research method has contributed to the insufficient income. In this unclear situation, it is obvious that no technical advertising experiments were launched and the funds were used with the known and proven providers.

According to SSF, there was an unsustainable lack of income from commercials and sponsorship. Attempts to find further investors have been unsuccessful to date. For this reason, it is planned to cease broadcasting operations on June 30, 2013.