VHF radio and regional TV: OFCOM puts 54 licences out to tender

Biel-Bienne, 30.08.2007 - The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) is putting out to tender 41 licences for distributing local-regional VHF programmes and 13 licences for distributing regional television programmes in Switzerland. The deadline for submission of candidatures is 5 December 2007. The licences will be awarded from spring 2008 by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC).

At the beginning of July 2007, the Federal Council defined the VHF radio and local TV coverage areas with performance obligations and specified the number of licences. OFCOM will put out to tender the 41 VHF radio licences and 13 regional TV licences on 4 September 2007. In accordance with the new Law on Radio and Television, a licence is only required if licence fee revenue is accessed or if limited frequency resources are used under preferential conditions. Other radio and TV stations are merely subject to the obligation to register.

Rights and obligations of the licencees

Binding performance obligations are specified in the licences and are outlined in detail in the tender documents. The performance obligations primarily specify the concepts of a regional public service.

The licences grant privileged access to the technical distribution infrastructure (VHF frequencies or cable networks) to all. In addition, 34 licensees will be able to access licence fee revenue.

Of the 4 percent revenue from licence fees i.e. CHF 49.8 million earmarked for future private broadcasters, CHF 31.4 million will go to the 13 regional TV broadcasters. 21 radio broadcasters - 12 stations in mountain or peripheral regions and 9 complementary, non-profit radio broadcasters - will share the remaining CHF 18.4 million.

Calculation of licence fee allocations

The individual licence fee allocation is calculated as follows: region-independent production costs are largely covered by a basic allowance and specific performance such as programme windows are compensated. The second portion of the individual licence fee allocation takes into account the particular features of the respective coverage areas and is calculated according to location-related factors such as number of inhabitants, data on economic structure and the competition situation. These factors reflect the economic foundations for the operation of a radio or TV station in the coverage area. Due to the specific cost structure of radio and television, the basic allowance and economic factors for these media are weighted differently (60:40 for TV, 40:40 for radio, with the remaining 20 percent weighted according to distribution costs).

The licence fee revenue allocations specified by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) will give the future broadcasters a degree of developmental freedom, though they are essentially limited to the next five years. In the final analysis, the licence fee revenue is limited to 50% of the operating costs for radio stations, and in special cases can be a maximum of 70% for TV stations.

The tender process and award of radio and TV licences is in accordance with the provisions of the new Law on Radio and Television which entered into force on 1 April 2007. The tender lasts until 5 December 2007. DETEC will award the licences within the framework of a competition based on criteria. It is expected that the first licensing decisions will be made in spring 2008.


Address for enquiries

Matthias Ramsauer, Deputy Director, Federal Office of Communications OFCOM,
Tel: +41 32 327 55 32



Publisher

Federal Office of Communications
http://www.ofcom.admin.ch

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