Blick also introduces paywall

However, this planned paywall does not mean that Blick.ch will have to pay, says Walder in an interview with Sonntagszeitung editor-in-chief Martin Spieler. 80 percent of the content will continue to be freely available in the future, but payment will have to be made for the remaining, more exclusive content. Walder expects that in the initial phase, around two percent of visitors will pay for the paid articles - that may not be very much, but it is at least an "eminently important step away from the "everything is free" culture". This change would require all Swiss publishers to implement the paywall, Walder said in an interview with Sonntagszeitung. With Tamedia, NNZ and Ringier, this is the case with all major publishers.

The 47-year-old calls the fact that publishers have made their valuable content available free of charge on the Internet a "historical birth defect. After all, the pretzel king doesn't give away his baked goods at train stations in the hope that customers will one day pay for them. The media industry is in the midst of the "most radical upheaval in its history. This is not caused by a lack of quality in newspapers, but by the digitalization of information. According to Walder, a user brings in seven times less than a reader.

"Modern way of theft"

In this context, the Ringier CEO also sees it as important that publishers can defend themselves against the "unfair exploitation of their intellectual content by search engines like Google. Google earns a lot of money at the expense of the media without giving them a share of the profits. Content produced for a lot of money is "stolen" by search engine operators and aggregators in this way, "a modern kind of theft in digital form." Therefore, according to Walder, Google promotes the death of newspapers and consequently harms Swiss democracy ("Only large newspapers and niche publications will survive"). For this reason, the topic of ancillary copyright will be discussed next week in the Association of Swiss Media.

Energy TV only for Swisscom customers

Ringier intends to remain in the TV business - despite the Withdrawal from press TV and Teleclub (Werbewoche.ch reported). The recently announced launch of the Energy TV channel is intended to appeal to a "young, attractive audience". This is an interactive music station that integrates various channels and Energy's events. Walder does not want to disclose the amount of the investment. However, he said the station will be run by Energy Switzerland, in which Ringier holds a 65 percent stake. The remaining 35 percent belongs to the Energy Group in Paris. An exclusive partnership has been concluded with Swisscom for the distribution, so Energy TV will only be receivable by Swisscom TV customers. Rumors about a joint channel with SRG had been "massively exaggerated" by Der Sonntag - however, it was correct that a meeting on this topic had taken place, as SRG had stated in its new strategy that it was open to cooperations with private companies.

Teaser image: Ringier.com