Antidote to the halving initiative National Council committee wants to partially abolish media levy

Companies should no longer have to pay a radio and TV fee in future. This is the proposal of the responsible Council of States committee.

Keystone-SDA

14.01.2025, 16:18

14.01.2025, 16:35

SDA

In future, companies should no longer have to pay a radio and TV fee. This is the proposal of the responsible National Council committee. It wants to oppose the SRG halving initiative with an indirect counter-proposal.

This decision was taken by the National Council's Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) by 13 votes to 12, as reported by the parliamentary services on Tuesday. The committee intends to comment on the principles of the counter-proposal to the SRG initiative before the end of January. Should the sister committee of the Council of States agree to these principles, the KVF-N would prepare a corresponding draft decree by February.

So far, four key points are known which the National Council committee intends to follow. Firstly, it wants to reduce radio and TV fees for households by law, and secondly, it wants to exempt companies from the fee altogether. Thirdly, it wants to grant the Independent Complaints Authority (UBI) more powers and, fourthly, oblige the SRG to cooperate more with the private media - particularly in the area of sports rights.

According to the KVF-N, broadcasters of radio and television programmes with a license and a performance mandate should be entitled to at least the same proportion of the fee as before the entry into force of a counter-proposal with the abolition of the corporate fee.