Swissstream and Suissedigital welcome the replay decision of the National Council

The National Council clearly opposes the proposed Art. 37a URG on time-shifted television by 182 votes to 6 (9 abstentions) (Werbewoche.ch reported). Accordingly, replay TV providers may continue to offer the rewind function without restriction, and broadcasters may not negotiate the use of their time-shifted TV signal.

What might disappoint the broadcasters, pleases the signal providers. The National Council has clearly rejected the "rewind ban", writes Swissstream. It thus meets a concern of the population and also secures the existence of replay TV. Alexander Schmid, CEO of Swissstream, welcomes this decision: "2.5 million Swiss households use Replay TV. A rewind ban would have dictated to the Swiss population how they should watch TV. Such paternalism would be a first in Swiss law." Negotiations with broadcasters, which would have become a necessity if the legislative article had been adopted, would have been "simply impossible" for smaller providers, Schmid is convinced. "Especially in Switzerland, it's important that we don't put any obstacles in the way of smaller and medium-sized companies and that market access is guaranteed."

Suissedigital is also pleased. "We are very pleased that the National Council has decided with a sense of proportion in this matter. This means that the population can continue to use the popular replay TV services without restriction," says Simon Osterwalder, managing director of the trade association, which vehemently fought against Article 37a of the law. He said he was convinced that TV broadcasters would not have been happy with the article either. Osterwalder: "In my view, the decision of the National Council is also best for the TV stations. Forcing private copying to consume advertising would have been counterproductive, as TV broadcasters would have lost even more viewers to streaming services." (hae)