Transformation on a grand scale Susanne Wille wants to cut 1000 jobs at SRG

SRG is facing a radical transformation: programs are being cut, 1000 jobs are being eliminated. The aim is to save 270 million francs by 2029.

What is happening at Swiss radio and television? SRG is facing far-reaching changes, and the red pencil is not stopping at prestigious formats. As the industry portal Persoenlich.com first reported, the program "Kontext" - once the flagship of Radio SRF 2 Kultur, most recently shrunk to a podcast - is being discontinued. The "Wirtschaftswoche" on Radio SRF 4 News is also being abolished.

Already known: The "Mittags-Tagesschau" will be replaced by a newsflash, regional journals at the weekend will be thinned out and online formats such as "We, Myself & Why" will disappear. SRG is facing its biggest transformation to date. Director General Susanne Wille explained on her first working day: "For SRG to remain SRG, it must change." Around CHF 270 million is to be saved by 2029 - this corresponds to around 1,000 full-time positions, or 17% of the workforce.

There are many reasons for this: the Federal Council wants to gradually reduce the radio and TV fee from CHF 335 to CHF 300 by 2029, which will bring in CHF 120 million less. In addition, the advertising market is collapsing - another 90 million will be lost. Inflation is also having a negative impact: an additional 60 million francs must be compensated for.

"Forward" is Wille's motto

Wille calls her transformation project "Enavant", meaning "forward". She plans to reorganize not only individual departments, but SRG as a whole. One insider describes the current savings and restructuring programs as a "savings cafeteria".

In 2024, the so-called halving initiative, "200 francs is enough", will be debated. It calls for a drastic reduction in fees and could be put to the vote in 2026. Criticism of the austerity policy comes from SP National Councillor Jon Pult, for example, who proposes financing the SRG via VAT: "Saving a quarter of a billion is unspeakable in view of the media crisis."

SVP National Councillor Gregor Rutz sees things differently: "It's the most normal thing in the world to consider where the offer is fraying."

A new style at the top

Wille's predecessor Gilles Marchand warned that cuts could jeopardize the public service, and Roger de Weck went even further by comparing the initiators of the halving initiative to authoritarian regimes. Wille, on the other hand, is committed to open dialog: She placed a round table in her office and invited the staff to take a seat.

But the concerns are palpable. While smaller cost-cutting measures such as the abolition of fringe benefits - such as subsidies for public transport subscriptions - have met with little internal resistance, protests are forming against the abolition of "Kontext": around 50 editors signed a letter of complaint.

For SRG and its audience, the transformation has only just begun. Only time will tell whether this "superlative" will lead to survival or to a departure from the previous public service.