Swiss government gives CH Media green light for radio station takeover
The media company CH Media can integrate the three Central Swiss radio stations Central, Sunshine and Eviva as planned. The Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) has approved the transfer of the licenses of the two stations Sunshine and Central to CH Media, the media company announced on Tuesday.
Nothing now stands in the way of integrating the stations, it said. The teams of the three radio stations would be integrated into the Radio division under the management of Nicola Bomio.
The three channels will continue to be operated from the Rotkreuz ZG site, CH Media announced. In the new organization, they will receive national content from a central newsroom. Alfons Spirig, the former owner of Central, Sunshine and Eviva, will support CH Media as an advisor.
Takeover retroactive to January 2022
CH Media, which already operates a station in the region with Lucerne's Radio Pilatus, had already taken over the three stations retroactively as of the beginning of January 2022. In return, CH Media had to hand over the Radio Bern1 license, following the return of the Radio 32 license. Last September, it was announced that the editorial teams would remain independent and the jobs would be retained.
Last fall, the Federal Council had decided that Central Switzerland would receive a new licensed radio station with fee money from 2025. CH Media explained at the time that the federal government's decision to create a license for an information radio station with a fee share for Central Switzerland had no influence on the sales negotiations.
