Radio industry plans marketing offensive for DAB+

For radio listeners, the transition to the digital age will have drastic consequences: they will have to dispose of their old radios and purchase a new, DAB+-capable radio or listen to radio via the Internet. "People have a very different relationship with TV and radio. They change their TV as often as their cell phone, but they can keep their radio set for decades," SRG Director Roger de Weck said at a media conference in Bern. The strategy paper will regulate the modalities in terms of finances, organization, responsibilities and marketing, as the industry partners jointly announced on Wednesday. For the agreement to come into force, at least 80 percent of the private radio stations must agree to it.

Reconciliation crucial

In addition, the people must say yes to the revision of the Federal Law on Radio and Television (RTVG) on June 14. If the people say no, the project will fail and there will be a loss of four million francs, as Philippe Zahno of the Union Radios Régionales Romandes said. There is no "plan B," he said. The goal is to broadcast radio programs in Switzerland only digitally and mainly via DAB+ from 2020. Around 70 programs from all language regions would be broadcast via DAB+ platforms. The last FM station is to be taken off the air by 2024 at the latest. Last year, nearly two million DAB+ radios were sold in Switzerland. 15 to 20 percent of listeners already have a digital radio, and in four years the figure is expected to be over 50 percent.

The agreement was signed in Bern by SRG Director General Roger de Weck and the presidents of the Association of Swiss Private Radio Stations (VSP), Jürg Bachmann, the Union Radios Régionales Romandes (RRR), Philippe Zahno, and the Union of Non-Commercial Local Radio Stations (Unikom), Lukas Weiss, in the presence of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM).

SRG assumes most of the costs

The agreement specifies, for example, which measures can be used to further increase awareness and use of digital radio programs in Switzerland. The success of the digital migration depends on a rapid, committed and massive effort in marketing and communication measures by all parties involved, according to the preamble to the agreement. Until the RTVA comes into force, SRG will assume responsibility for marketing activities and all costs in the sense of start-up financing. SRG thus bears the financial risk should the law be defeated at the ballot box.
If the new law comes into force, SRG will finance two-thirds of the marketing campaign, the other players one-third. This cost sharing between the private broadcasters and the SRG corresponds to the reach ratios of the partners involved. According to the agreement, the contracting parties will strive to increase the use of digital radio to 68 percent or more by 2019. To this end, a joint communications strategy must be agreed and implemented.

Ripe for digitization

The radio industry had already presented Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard with a corresponding roadmap of measures in December. The report had been prepared by the Digital Migration Working Group (AG DigiMig) and is based on the strategy for future radio broadcasting in Switzerland formulated by the Federal Council in 2006. The working group formed in 2013 with the aim of developing a joint strategy for the radio industry for the coordinated migration of radio programs from FM to DAB+. The industry is convinced that Switzerland is ready for a digital migration. (SDA)