Uvek: First licensing decisions made for radio and TV
The DETEC has issued 33 of 54 license decisions. Licenses were granted to the 27 FM radio stations and 6 regional television stations whose applications had no competition. Decisions on the remaining licenses are expected in the fall, though the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) fears objections and the resulting delays.
The Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) has made 33 of 54 pending licensing decisions. In a first step, those 27 FM radio stations and 6 regional television stations whose applications were unrivalled were granted a license. In the 21 pending licensing decisions, two or more candidates are applying for the same license. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the Uvek will make the relevant decisions this fall. However, at the annual media conference in Biel on Wednesday, the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), which is responsible for DETEC, expressed its concern that the decisions on the remaining 21 licensing areas could lead to objections and therefore delays. They are aware that these decisions could be sensitive for the staff concerned. Each decision will therefore be justified in detail.
All but one of the already licensed stations are existing broadcasters. Only the complementary, non-commercial Radio Stadtfilter in Winterthur received a license for the first time. This coverage area was newly created by the Federal Council in summer 2006.
The licenses now granted will enter into force at the earliest after the 30-day appeal period and at the latest after the expiry of the old licenses (TV: end of 2008, radio: end of March 2009) and are valid until 2019.
The following stations have received a license to date:
VHF Radio Chablais (coverage area: 03 Chablais)
Rhône fm (04 Bas-Valais)
Rottu (Upper Valais)
BNJ fm (Arc Jurassien)
Fribourg/Freiburg (07/08 Fribourg/Freiburg)
Canal 3 (09 Biel)
BE 1 (10 Bern)
Capital FM (10 Bern)
Raven (11 Bern City)
BeO (12 Bernese Oberland)
Neo1 (13 Emmental)
Radio 32 (14 Solothurn-Olten)
Channel K (16 Aargau-Mitte
Radio X (18 Basel-Stadt)
Pilatus (19 Central Switzerland West)
Triple (20 Lucerne)
Sunshine (21 Central Switzerland North)
Central (22 Central Switzerland South)
Lora (24 Zurich)
Stadtfilter (26 Winterthur)
Munot (27 Schaffhausen)
Rasa (28 City of Schaffhausen)
Top (29 Eastern Switzerland West)
FM1 Nord and FM 1 Süd (formerly Aktuell and Ri) (30 Ostschweiz Ost)
Toxic FM (31 City of St. Gallen)
Fiume Ticino (33 Sopraceneri)
3iii (34 Sottoceneri)
Regional televisionLéman bleu (02 Geneva)
Tele Bärn (05 Bern)
Tele Bielingue (06 Biel)
Tele Basel (07 Basel)
Tele Südostschweiz (12 Südostschweiz)
Tele Ticino (13 Ticino)
