Weko: Südostschweiz Medien with a dominant market position
Südostschweiz Medien, owned by Swiss Media President Hanspeter Lebrument, holds a dominant market position in all key areas. This is the conclusion reached by the Competition Commission Weko in an expert opinion.
The Weko has found Südostschweiz Medien to be in a dominant position in the areas of readership, print advertising and radio advertising. This was announced independently on Thursday by Südostschweiz Medien and its opponent, Roger Schawinski's Radio Südost and his partner Stefan Bühler from Chur.
However, the Weko's opinion has no immediate impact on the tussle for the license between Radio Grischa of Südostschweiz Medien and Radio Südost. The decisive factor for awarding the license is not the mere fact of a dominant market position, but rather any abuse of this position. Whether this is the case must now be examined by the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom).
However, should Bakom find abuse by Südostschweiz Medien, Radio Grischa would lose its current provisional license and Radio Südost would be awarded the contract. Both parties expect a decision before the end of this year.
The dispute over the license dates back to 2008. At that time, the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) awarded the VHF local radio license for Graubünden and Glarus to Radio Grischa. The unsuccessful Radio Südost of Schawinski and Bühler then filed an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court. The judges in Bern upheld the appeal, annulled the licensing decision and referred the matter back to DETEC for a reassessment. The latter called in the Weko.
