AZ Medien eyeing takeover of SRG sports broadcasts
Much of what SRG does could also be done by private companies, says AZ Media's head of television Roger Elsener. SRG, on the other hand, is convinced that this assumption is incorrect.
AZ station TV 24 broadcast the big match of the World Cup qualifying barrage, Italy-Sweden, and promptly achieved the highest ratings ever measured in prime time. A market share of over 15 percent was the top figure in the station's history.
That makes you want more - all the more so when you consider SRF 2's ratings for Switzerland-Northern Ireland: 57 percent. 45 percent in French-speaking Switzerland, 53 percent in Ticino.
"We would take our chance"
As AZ Media's head of television Roger Elsener tells SonntagsBlick, more would be possible for the private broadcasters: "Large parts in the sports sector can be operated profitably," he is convinced.
All the more so if the No Billag initiative is adopted and SRG ceases to be a competitor - the same content is targeted more often, says Elsener. Both in sports and in entertainment. In the event of the initiative being accepted, the company would be ready to go: "We would seize our opportunity and examine the takeover of individual business areas," says the TV boss of AZ Medien.
Of course, there would be interested competitors in the event of a new award of sports rights - especially UPC (MySports) and Swisscom (Teleclub). Apparently, however, those responsible at the two companies do not believe that the No Billag initiative will be successful. SonntagsBlick bases this statement on information from "insiders".
Another interested party in the SRG sports broadcasts would be Dominik Kaiser and his 3+ broadcasting group. Especially when it comes to the Nati games, for which they have already tried to bid in the past and are said to have met with bitter resistance on the part of SRG. (Werbewoche.ch reported).
Sports are neither profitable nor cost-covering according to SRG
Would everything be so simple with the popular sports broadcasts? No, says SRG. Lino Bugmann, spokesman for SRF Sport, is convinced that there is no money to be made in Switzerland from sports coverage. And he provides figures: On average, commercial revenues - i.e. advertising and sponsorship - cover only 13.1 percent of full costs.
The reason for this is that the costs of in-house productions are included to a considerable extent in this calculation. It is much cheaper to buy the broadcasting rights for an externally produced World Cup qualifying match than, for example, to produce and broadcast a downhill race on the Lauberhorn. Such expenses would be impossible to bear without the fee payer.
And of course SRG also shows and promotes (fringe) sports that would probably be of too little interest from a purely commercial point of view.
The entire sports expenditure - i.e. rights, production and implementation - costs each Swiss household five francs per month, as Bugmann reveals to SonntagsBlick. (hae)
