Switzerland Writes New Media Law

Michael Hedges - April 3, 2006

The final draft of Switzerland’s new law on radio and television (LRTV) reached Parliament after three years in the writing. The long process enabled public and private broadcasters, politicians and civil society to debate, change and debate again the first fundamentally different Swiss media legislation since the 1980’s. For radio broadcasters the new LRTV will bring liberalized advertising and sponsoring rules and, eventually, new FM frequency allocations.

The new LRTV is a double reality check, said Office Fédéral de la Communication (OFCOM) director Martin Dumermuth. The previous law “was oriented toward the analogue technology of the time,” he explained, and “offered no solutions to the new questions and problems which accompanied the digitisation of distribution channels and convergence.”

The Swiss Parliament charged OFCOM in 2002 with revising and up-dating the countries’ media framework. Dumermuth became OFCOM director in March 2005 after 10 years as vice director and head of the radio and television department. Advancing technology and economics for broadcasters and the LRTV through debates and revisions have been the primary tasks of his first year as director.

“One main reason for the revision is to ensure that broadcasting has adequate transmission possibilities in the new competition with the telecommunications industry,” said Dumermuth. “Moreover, the procedure for allocating broadcasting capacities for radio and television programmes must be adapted to digital technology.”

Physically surrounded by media giants from France, Germany, Austria and Italy, Switzerland experiences media “internationalization” like few other European countries. Add to that, its seven million citizens share four national languages, each with legal status. And Switzerland benefits from a superior telecommunications structure. 

“Against this background, any claim to wish to control the development of broadcasting in Switzerland in an overall political sense is illusory,” he explained. “The objective of the new LRTV is therefore no longer to attempt to ensure that the state comprehensively shapes broadcasting but to control it politically only where radio and television have a central importance for the community.”

Dumermuth points out that rapid and continuous changes in technologies demanded new legal definitions. And the definitions are plainly platform or technology-neutral, the leading trend of European media regulation. The LRTV’s definition of a program (Article 2 a) has been changed to a “sequence of transmissions which are continuously offered, delimited in time and transmitted using telecommunications technology and which are intended for the public.”

“The demand for the passing of a technology-neutral new LRTV was a basic requirement from the outset,” he said. “This is primarily realised by defining its scope separately from the specific type of dissemination. The new LRTV regulates the production, distribution and reception of broadcast programs of public relevance. Thanks to this technology-neutral definition, for example, special regulation of the internet is not necessary. In legal terms, the internet is considered as a platform on which both programs, subject to the LRTV, and telecommunication services, not regulated by the LRTV, can be transmitted.

The new LRTV steps forward in a definition for public service broadcasting that fits the countries’ specific needs. Introduced with this legislation is broadcast license fee sharing between national and regional public service broadcaster SSR-SRG idée Suisse (SRG) and private local broadcasters in smaller communities.

“In this sense, the new law must ensure that an effective public service continues to exist in radio and television. At the regional linguistic and national level, the SRG has to be fit to compete against powerful competition from abroad and regional-local public service should be provided by selected private broadcasters,” he said. “In both cases the broadcasters concerned benefit from economic support (reception fees) and guaranteed dissemination of their programs. While the SRG continues to receive the major share of reception fees, the proportion for local-regional broadcasters has to be made more efficient than it is today.”

Dumermuth said private sector broadcasters will have “more latitude” under the new LRTV through an overall reduction in rules and requirements. Mandated license requirements and program service obligations will be reduced, as are many advertising restrictions.

Swiss public broadcaster SRG is “satisfied with the end of deliberations,” said radio coordinator Marc Savary, even with “more restrictions than in the current situation.” 

“For (public service) radio the situation is acceptable,” he said. “The program offer will not be reduced, the rigid frequency distribution is given up, sponsorship for public service radio is still allowed and Swiss music quotas have been abandoned.”

SRG also loses about CHF 70 million (€ 45 million) annually in a new receiver license fee splitting arrangement with small, local privately owned stations. “This loss of earnings,” said Savary, “will have to be compensated by economizing (which is) already in place.”

If no new issues arise, the long debated LRTV will receive its final vote in the spring session of the Federal Assembly. “If this does happen and if there is no referendum, the new LRTV could enter into force at the beginning of 2007,” said Martin Dumermuth, sounding quite relieved.

Previously published in Radio World International, March 2006, in a slightly different form.

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