The go-ahead has been given for the news network

 The news network of Tagesanzeiger.ch, Bernerzeitung.ch and Bazonline.ch, which was first announced last September, went online on Thursday evening. The countdown did not run smoothly: "We have had so many technical problems in the past few days that hardly anything can go wrong now. Everything that can go wrong has already gone wrong," said Editor-in-Chief Peter Wälty shortly before the launch. Launching three new sites at the same time doesn't seem like child's play. "The coordination of the three portals still has to settle in - we hardly had time to gather much experience," says Wälty. He and his editorial team provide content for all three sites, which the local editorial teams can then present as they see fit. It remains to be seen whether the news network, touted as the "new big thing", can also be a commercial success. "We all don't know exactly how the economy will develop," said Wälty. "The three sites together have a wide reach. The task now is to market the sites successfully. As we are linked to quality titles, we naturally can't take part in every mess when it comes to marketing," said Wälty. "In any case, we have the best sales team there is."
How does Wälty comment on the online plans of six regional publishers who announced a joint portal at News1.ch on Wednesday? "It's an ambitious project and I wish the creators the best of luck. I imagine it will be difficult to reconcile the interests of six publishers with their different titles. What's more, some of these websites have a very limited reach, so it's questionable whether it's worth the effort," said Wälty about the newly announced online competition. "It is just as challenging to establish a completely new brand with News1.ch." This is easier with Newsnetz: it can build on the existing strong online brands.