Popular initiative against TV fees fails
The popular initiative "Radio and television - without Billag" did not come to fruition. The initiative committee was unable to collect enough signatures for the petition, which called for radio and television to be self-financed.
According to the information on their website, the initiators only managed to collect around 9500 signatures during the collection period that ended on Tuesday. According to the website of the organization "Solidarity Switzerland" (SOS), which is behind the initiative, the collection of signatures via crowdfunding did not mobilize enough voters. The failure of the initiative was reported by the newspapers Blick and Le Temps. This is the second unsuccessful attempt by SOS: the organization had already launched an initiative to abolish radio and TV fees in 2011, but stopped collecting signatures prematurely.
Second initiative pending
The collection period for another popular initiative to abolish radio and television fees runs until mid-December. The initiative aims to ban subsidies for radio and television stations. Reception fees should no longer be charged.
Around 63,000 signatures have currently been collected, said the co-president of the initiative committee, Olivier Kessler, on Wednesday on request. It will be difficult to collect the required 100,000 signatures in the remaining seven months, especially as they cannot count on the support of a large organization. The initiative "Yes to the abolition of radio and television fees (abolition of Billag fees)" is supported by the Young SVP and the Young Liberals.
However, the Swiss electorate will be able to vote on radio and television fees on June 14. The revision of the Radio and Television Act, which provides for a device-independent fee system, will then be put to the vote. For private households, the fee would fall from the current CHF 462 to around CHF 400 per year with the system change. (SDA)
Teaser image: Solidarische.ch
