Switzerland

[CH] More Freedom for SSR’s Internet Offer

IRIS 2014-1:1/13

Patrice Aubry

RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, Geneva

The Federal Council (the Swiss government) has modified, with effect from 1 June 2013, the concession granted to the Swiss radio and television broadcasting company (SSR) to allow it to develop its activities on the Internet. The measure was adopted after negotiations between SSR and newspaper editors with a view to concluding a collaboration agreement in the field of Internet (see IRIS 2012-9/13) had broken down. The Federal Council then maintained the principle of not allowing SSR to use advertising or sponsoring on its Internet sites, and expressed its intention to allow the public-service broadcaster greater freedom regarding the content of its on-line offer. The revision of the concession granted to SSR reflects the wishes of the Swiss government on this point.

The new regulations enable SSR to put audio and video content, images or graphic items and texts not exceeding 1000 characters on-line on demand, without restrictions. For news, sport and local and regional information, texts may only exceed 1000 characters if they are related to a broadcast and are published no more than 30 minutes before the broadcast is aired. However, the concession does not state specifically how long content may remain on-line after broadcasting; the Federal Council nevertheless requires a degree of proximity in terms of time. Also, if texts have some connection with a broadcast, that broadcast must be referred to clearly.

In addition, 75% of texts published no more than 30 days earlier must be directly associated with audio and video content; the percentage is calculated on the basis of the overall reporting offer produced by SSR, not including user-generated content or the services provided by SSR (EPG, on-line shop, programme announcements, etc). Games and chat-rooms are only authorised if they have a direct link with a broadcast in terms of time and topic. Lastly, the ban on on-line shopping allowing members of the public to buy, sell or swap products still stands.

The new concession also liberalises the regime of live broadcasting on the Internet (original broadcasts or live video streaming): it now authorises the broadcasting of public events without requiring either notification to be sent to the Federal Communication Office (Office Fédéral de la Communication - OFCOM) or simultaneous television broadcasting (“simulcasting”). The only original broadcasting allowed is of political, economic, sports and cultural events organised by third parties that are of significant importance for the whole country or for any one language region. Original broadcasts are assimilated to television programmes and may therefore contain advertising and sponsoring, as well as reporting services produced by SSR (commentaries, interviews, etc).