Time-shifted TV without compulsory advertising to become more expensive from October 4

This was announced by the two largest telecom groups in Switzerland on Wednesday. Salt did not yet want to give any details on the new tariff when asked by the AWP news agency. At the cable network Quickline, skipping the advertising blocks costs 5 francs, as CEO Frédéric Goetschmann said.

The day before, it was announced that forced advertising for time-shifted TV on German-language private stations would start on October 4. Customers will then have to endure advertising when fast-forwarding through commercial breaks or pay more.

More money for TV stations

The reason is the agreement on a new joint GT12 tariff between TV broadcasters, telecom companies and collecting societies. This regulates TV broadcasters' compensation for time-shifted television in a new way. The background to this is that the private broadcasters are complaining of a loss of revenue from fast-forwarding advertising, which is their main source of income.

This is because the advertising industry is not happy about fast-forwarding. The TV broadcasters criticized that the compensation for time-shifted TV paid by the telecom providers was too low. Telecom companies now have to pay TV broadcasters 7 francs instead of the previous 2 francs per customer per month for skipping advertising on time-shifted TV.

It was not only the private broadcasters who had offered resistance to replay TV in its current form, but also the SRG. The license-fee-financed broadcaster had lobbied parliament to ban replay TV altogether. This would have allowed it to direct viewers to its own media library for time-delayed TV, where it would also insert advertising.

Spectators have to swallow toad

The compromise preserves replay TV in Switzerland, while abroad broadcasts can only be viewed retrospectively in the media library of the respective TV station. But viewers here will have to swallow a toad if they don't want to pay more.

First, viewers have to endure a 5 to 7-second commercial at the start of the replay program, as is already familiar from video platforms. Then a static display ad follows after and during pressing the pause button in live or replay mode.

And finally, there is a commercial break with two to three spots of a maximum of 130 seconds, which is played if viewers want to fast-forward through the much longer commercial break during the replay. The broadcasters can now prevent rewinding during commercials for up to a maximum of four minutes per broadcast hour.

This will be introduced on October 4 at 19 German-language private stations. These are almost all channels from RTL Deutschland (RTL, Vox, Nitro, RTLZWEI), Seven.One Entertainment Group (ProSieben, SAT.1, Kabel Eins, ProSieben Maxx, SAT.1 Gold, Sixx, Puls 8) and CH Media (TV24, TV25, S1, 3+, 4+, 5+, 6+, 7+/Nick Schweiz). From next year, more than a dozen Swiss regional stations will be added, as well as N-TV and Super RTL.

Expert: Black day

"October 4, 2022, is a black day in Swiss TV history," commented telecom expert Ralf Beyeler from Internet comparison service Moneyland: "I assume that many customers will be so annoyed by the forced advertising that they will cancel their TV subscription. In particular, you can't underestimate the competition from streaming services and TV broadcasters' media libraries in 2022."

It was a compromise that was reached with a lot of cold showers, said the managing director of the cable network association Suissedigital, Simon Osterwalder, at a media conference on Wednesday: But it was noticed that one also gets clean with cold showers.

If one had switched to stubborn, court proceedings on replay TV would have been threatened, Osterwalder said in the interview. Then all the arguments of the legal processes in Germany, Austria or Finland would have been on the table, which had led to a ban on replay TV there.

This could have led to a total victory for the telecom industry or to the courts passing the ball back to the politicians, i.e. the legislators. A complete ban on replay TV in Switzerland would also have been possible. Court proceedings are lengthy and expensive, as well as a big risk, Osterwalder said.

Public broadcasters not included

"For broadcasters not participating in the industry agreement, nothing will change: Fast-forward is possible in replay TV as before," explained the industry associations Suissedigital and Swissstream. This means that everything remains the same for the public channels of SRG, ARD, ZDF or ORF.

However, SRG is also flirting with compulsory advertising: Joining the industry agreement is being considered, SRG spokesman Edi Estermann said in response to a query: "Talks on this are currently open-ended." Suissedigital CEO Osterwalder said: "I hope that SRG will also join at some point." (sda.)